A wise one in trouble
by mortal-paralight
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are assigned a quest but they didn't expect someone to get kidnapped. What happens when Annabeth is kidnapped by some of the most dangerous Gods and Percy has to save her? Will he get to her in time?
1. Preface

**Alright people, here's a new story I am writing. It's the first Percy Jackson story I'm writing so be gentle with me. But here's the summary:**

**Percy and Annabeth are assigned a quest but they didn't expect someone to get kidnapped. What happens when Annabeth is kidnapped by some of the most dangerous Gods and Percy has to save her? Will he get to her in time?**

**Well, read and review please!!!! Hope you guys like it!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians!!!**

Preface

Our parents were enemies. I should hate him too… shouldn't I? It didn't seem natural that we should fall this way but… he was my only hope of ever surviving. He could help me fight this battle. But I was much too weak to defend myself against these kinds of Gods. Only being a half-blood didn't help me in this situation. It was much too dangerous to do anything.

But I knew that he could help me. He's been with me since the very beginning and he could save me from this desolate torture. All this pain and burning sensations couldn't last forever… could they? Maybe he wouldn't save me in time. It would be a shame but then again, he could be happy with someone else, someone he didn't have to save.

Unfortunately, my heart told me otherwise. It told me that my saviour would come before my death. The only thought running through my mind was the fact that he was coming for me. He _was_. There was no denying it. A smile crept on my bruised face. My knight in shining armour would be here shortly, holding me in his arms and escorting me out of this hellhole. It brought memories of Hades's Underworld city. It reminded me of this hellish torturing place. But this time, I was alone. My friends weren't beside me. I was alone in the darkness.

But this time, no one was getting tricked. I was being saved… hopefully.

**Alright so what did you think of the preface? I hope it was good enough for you guys. Now, if you guys are loyal Percy Jackson readers, then I hope to see a few reviews. Now please REVIEW and give me your opinion!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

2


	2. Confusion hits me with a paddle

**Sorry guys but there were a few things I had to change. But the writing will be slightly delayed since I'm finishing the series. It's WICKED AWESOME!!! Anyways, here's the changed chapter. And sorry about the other change. I had to make sure the prophecy rimes.**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 1

Confusion hits me with a paddle

**Percy's Point of View**

Finally I'd return to my second home. It was fall and my mother finally agreed that I could go back to Camp Half-Blood. That's right, I'm a half-blood. My father is Poseidon, the God of the Sea. My mother, Sally Jackson, kind of had a thing with my father and had me, a half-blood who could control the water and talk to horses. It might sound weird but it's pretty sweet. "Do you have everything ready Percy?" My mother asked as I started packing my things in my tiny bedroom.

"Yeah Mom, be down in a second!" I bellowed and grabbed my things hastily before my mother would leave without me, although that was quite unlikely. My mother stood in the entrance way, waiting for me with a large smile. I'd lived with my mother for a few months and this was the only legitimate time that she'd send me off to Camp Half-Blood. Apparently, they needed help.

"Are you all ready?"

"Yep. Let's get going." And with that settled, my mother grabbed my luggage, placed it in the Mazda and we sped off to Long Island. I couldn't wait to arrive. The longing to see all my friends, Chiron the activities director, Mr. D. the camp director (not as much as the others) and all the others was burning in my chest. Let's just say that Mr. D. and I don't really get along, ever since I stepped foot onto his camp. Maybe he had a problem with my father. See, Mr. D. is Dionysus, the God of Wine. He was sent to Camp Half-Blood on punishment, a whole century with us because he started flirting with a few off limit wood nymphs. Frankly, the guy deserves punishment but it also punishes us in the process.

Chiron is one of the three people I want to see the most. You see, Chiron is a centaur and used to be my Latin teacher in sixth grade, until I figured out my true nature and became a half-blood. He helped me a lot with training and getting settled in at camp that I was absolutely devastated when he was fired last year under false pretences.

When arriving to Long Island, my mom gave me a bone crushing hug, told me to write often, gave me a kiss on the forehead and sped off towards New York. Turning my body towards my second home, a man's voice was heard from a distance. "Perrrcy!" The man bleated as it came towards me. It was my best friend Grover. We had been best friends for almost three years now, ever since I was at Yancy Academy. He was the one that had found out that I was a half-blood and brought me to Camp Half-Blood. Oh, did I forget to mention that Grover was a satyr? Half man, half goat? Even though he had hooves for feet and furry legs, Grover has the biggest heart of all the satyrs here.

"Grover!" I screamed, rushing up to him and taking his human hand.

"You finally made it! Chiron was slightly worried that you wouldn't come to camp," Grover admitted as we started walking towards my lonely cabin. I was the only child of Poseidon at this camp. My brother Tyson shared a bunk with me but, because of the fact that he was a Cyclops, he had to go and work for my father.

"And why wouldn't I come? Is he telling you things to hide from me?" I asked suspiciously. Chiron has always talked strongly about me to others and ordered them not to say anything to me, which was just frankly rude. Didn't I have a right to know as well about these kinds of things?

"No! There have just been a lot of problems during the few months. More monsters have shown up at the camp boarder. Even Thalia and Annabeth had to come here instead of going to school," Grover explained and that made me stop. Annabeth had to return to camp? She was supposed to be with her dad in New York. But… why didn't they ask me to come back? I could have helped. "Don't worry about it Percy. Annabeth and Thalia took down most of them single handily along with Clarisse," He reassured me.

"You know, that whole emotion reading thing is really getting on my nerves. But how did monsters approach the boarder? They're not supposed to see the hill," I explained as the cabin came into view.

"Luke's been helping them somehow and with everything going on, the monsters can now see the camp. It's all voodoo if you ask me," Grover retorted with a snort. Luke… that brought back awful memories. He used to be my best friend when I arrived at camp. Luke introduced me to the camp and tried to get me settled in. He befriended me and I believed every word that came from his mouth. Now, Luke's the son of Hermes and hates the Gods, thus hating his father in the process. He tried to kill me a few summers ago and has tried to get passed us ever since to revive Kronos.

"I'll say…" And with that, we finally arrived at my cabin. It was a low gray building hewn from sea stone that was decorated with shells and coral fossils embedded in the stones to demonstrate the sea. Even though the building was empty on the inside, it still brought the feeling of belonging. "Let me put my stuff away and I'll be right back."

"Alright and by the way, Chiron wants to speak to you," Grover said before he turned away and walked towards the armoury. What did Chiron want to tell me? Well, I'd find out eventually.

It took me quite a while to unpack simply because I wanted to take my time. One bag took me about fifteen minutes to remove its belongings. My ballpoint pen felt somewhat heavy in my pocket for some reason, like it was sensing danger coming. Taking out my pen, I uncapped it and Riptide slid out. It shown in the dim light of the cabin and it felt right to wield it in my hand once more. But my thoughts went back to Chiron. If he wanted to talk to me, then it must be quite urgent.

Alright, time to head out.

I ran out of my cabin and slammed into someone unexpected that made me fall to the ground. Groaning, I looked up to find a very angry Clarisse. "Jackson, what in the gods names are you doing?! Watch where you're going!" She shouted angrily. She wore full body armour, ready to fight more monsters if it was necessary. And today obviously wasn't a day to mess with her.

"Good to see you too Clarisse," was my obvious reply as I stood up. She grabbed my collar and hoisted me onto my feet, sending daggers my way. If looks could kill… She'd been angry with me since two years ago after I got into quite the fight with Ares, her father _and_ the God of War. And frankly, Clarisse was the strongest Ares camper here.

"You might be the Sea God's kid but that doesn't mean I can't pulverize you right now!" She yelled in my face, spit coming out of her mouth and slamming into my face. Great… first day back at camp and I get pulverized by one of Ares's daughter.

"So, Seaweed Brain has gotten himself in more trouble?" A wondrous female voice came from behind Clarisse. It was Annabeth, the one person I had been looking forwards more of all to see when arriving here. Her long flowing blonde hair was sprawled on her bronze armour; obviously she was just coming back from another battle on Half-Blood Hill. Her cheeks were flushed red, either from fighting or because of something else, although the fall wind should help her. When actually looking at Annabeth, you could see that she seemed older and… taller? Under her flock of golden hair, she wore owl earrings, a symbol of her mother Athena. But everything about her told me one thing: she looked absolutely stunning. Something about her made my heart sore. It happened every time I thought about her or saw her ever since she was badly hurt at the hands of Polyphemus the Cyclops in the Sea of Monsters.

"Stay out of it Princess," Clarisse warned, not bothering to look Annabeth in the eyes. Somehow, it slightly affected me when she called Annabeth 'Princess'.

"Oh come on Clarisse, is this really the best time? Anyways, you're supposed to be the one on guard right now," Annabeth informed her as she came up to Clarisse and looked at her with those misty eyes. In a matter of seconds, Clarisse let go of me and walked away with a snort. She always did want to laugh at me for stupid reasons.

"Thanks for that," I muttered to Annabeth with a smile.

She just rolled her eyes and looked at Clarisse storming off towards the hill. "What else is new? I'm always saving your wet butt," She laughed at that statement as I looked ashamed, trying to make her feel guilty.

"Not all the time," I whispered mostly to myself but, of course, she caught on.

"Oh really? Well, in any case, I guess you heard that Chiron wants to see you right away?" She asked dropping the subject quickly. That's what I liked about her. She always changed subjects easily if it was pointless to go on.

"Is this thing going around camp?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, alright I'll go. Do you know what he wants to say to me?"

"No clue. Guess you better go ask him now."

"Will do. Thanks again Annabeth," I answered before walked towards Chiron's cabin. His favourite 1960s lounge song played in the background as I entered the Big House. Chiron was in his human form, hiding his centaur legs in the small wheelchair. Yeah, he did that quite often.

"Percy, what a pleasure it is to see you again!" He exclaimed as he kept writing at his small desk.

Walking up to him, I tried not to show my curiosity too much. "Yeah, same here. Um… I've been told you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, Mr. D. has brought to my attention that Luke has been trying to get inside the camp more frequently now with a stolen device." This brought back so many memories of two summers ago when the Master Bolt was stolen and everyone blamed me for stealing it when it was clearly Luke who had done it. "And Mr. D. would like someone to retrieve the stolen item." Of course Dionysus would want to send some campers on a suicide mission. And of course Chiron would want me to go. Don't get me wrong, I want to but it could be dangerous.

"And you want me to go," I answered unemotionally.

"I'm afraid you're the only one we can count on. Of course you would be bringing along three friends instead of only two, considering the fact that this is quite the dangerous quest," Chiron informed sadly, as if he didn't _want_ to send me on this quest.

"What are the Gods doing about all of this?"

"They are already preoccupied with Kronos that they believe we can handle retrieving the stolen item ourselves," Chiron replied as if this wasn't how he wanted to Gods to act. And frankly, I felt the same way. They relied on us way too much to accomplish these things on our own without their help.

"Unbelievable…"

"Percy, I would not ask you to do this if I didn't think you were capable. I'm just worried about your safety." Isn't he always? It's always like this… Chiron worries too much about me just because I'm the son of Poseidon. They didn't want me to get killed just yet.

"I'll do it."

Chiron sighed. "Then the Oracle is waiting for you," He answered before I went up to the attic in the Big House to meet the shrivelled-up mummy. When entering the dusty small attic, my eyes drifted to the mummy in the room. Immediately when I came in of front of her, words came out of my mouth without even thinking.

"What must I do to retrieve the item?"

As soon as the words were spoken, green mist came out of the mummy's mouth and it transformed into images of my three friends: Thalia, Grover and Annabeth. The mist had transformed into Gabe, my mother's ex-husband, last time I saw the Oracle. Now, the mist transformed into the three most important people at this camp and to me. Grover was the first to speak. _You will adventure to the cavern of the lost._ Next it was Thalia. _One will be left behind in the clash._ Annabeth looked at me and spoke. Even though that wasn't the real Annabeth, her words chilled me to my very core. _You will race to bring the lost one to its loss._ Grover took a turn once again. _You will travel far and wide for the cure at last._ Annabeth spoke again now and her words scared me even more than the last time the green mist spoke. _One will die before the hero. _With the prophecy finished, my friends disappeared and the green mist returned inside the mummy. Silence filled the room.

What did the prophecy mean? I understood about adventuring to the cavern of the lost—it probably meant that I'd bring back the stolen item in there—but the rest? And Chiron told me that I could bring three friends along with me. Did this mean that Grover, Thalia _and_ Annabeth were supposed to come with me? Would they risk their lives along with me? I would give them the option. They wouldn't be forced to do this.

I came back downstairs to find Chiron looked at me questionably. "What did the Oracle tell you?" He asked, straight to the point. I told im what the mist had said, all but the dying part at the end, and he seemed worried. But now that the quest was given to me, there was no way to back out now. "Percy, you have to be careful on this quest. Let no one out of your sight," He warned. Did Chiron know something that I didn't? If so, I'd like to know.

"What do you mean?"

"Take the Oracle's words into deep consideration. Don't underestimate the double meanings in this prophecy. It could end badly," Chiron warned and I just nodded my head. There was no easy way of taking this. Who was this person that would die at the end? It was just inconvenient at the moment. "Go get your three friends. They will help you a lot in your quest."

I nodded once more and headed out the door without a word. My head spun slightly and the blood pounded in my ears. My friends might die in the end. That's probably what the prophecy meant. Oh god… I couldn't ask them to do this, not with what the prophecy might hold for their fates. But that was all extinguished when all three of them came in front of me, asking me what Chiron wanted to know.

"He gave me a quest. I need to take back something Luke stole. It's the whole reason why monsters are attacking," I explained as best as possible but they just wanted to know more about the situation. Nosy friends… But that's why I loved them.

"Alright then, we'll come along with you. Won't we guys?" Thalia asked the others and, of course, they all nodded in agreement. Then I guess it was settled. We would leave first thing this afternoon.

**Alright so hopefully the little changes make sense now. And review!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**


	3. Seaweed Brain's got issues

**Alright guys, sorry about the wait but I just finished reading the whole series of Percy Jackson and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! Plus I saw the movie and it was quite good. Now, I can be accurately correct while writing this story! So please, READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 2

Seaweed Brain's got issues

**Annabeth's Point of View**

Percy didn't look very interested in this quest. And frankly, his face concerned me. I'd gotten to know Percy's emotions but now, it was just a mask. Ever since the Oracle spoke to him, he'd been a little off. Percy was probably just worried about this quest. It was pretty dangerous after all. Grabbing everything essentially important for this quest, I ran out of the Athena cabin and found Percy looking at the water, his bag ready by his side. What could be wrong with him?

Something told me that I'd better go talk to him. Maybe it was my mother or a certain part of my heart that told me that it was the right thing to do. "What's wrong Percy?" I asked while sitting down next to him. He turned his glistening green eyes on me and looked nervous.

"Huh? Oh, nothing…" He lied. Why is it that Seaweed Brain did that a lot? I could easily see through him.

"You're wondering about the prophecy, aren't you? About that last line?"

"I can't figure out who would die and who would be the hero. It's driving me insane!" He bellowed, grabbing his long—can't believe it grew so long—black hair and brought his head between his legs in disbelief.

"Oh come on Seaweed Brain! With my brains and your skills and Grover's natural spirits, we'll figure it out," I mocked and he laughed slightly. That just made me happy. He'd been sulking for too long.

"Yeah, you might be right."

"In the meantime, we should start by applying ourselves to the first part of the prophecy," I explained as he looked at me again, his green eyes boring into my misty gray ones. I have to admit that every time Percy looked at me with those dazzling green eyes, my heart skipped a faint beat. He had aged during the

"Right, _You will adventure to the cavern of the lost._ Sounds like tons of fun," He answered unenthusiastically.

"The lost. It could mean anything or anyone."

"More like anyone if you ask me."

"How can you tell?"

"Think about it. We've lost a lot of campers since Luke," Somehow, whenever Percy mentioned my old friend and practically brother, my heart always contracted. It made me sad to think that Luke Castellan had actually turned to the dark side and was helping Kronos, the Lord of Time, "went against the gods. Maybe it could be the place where they all went with him."

"Wouldn't that be the _Princess Andromeda_?" A female voice came from behind us. We both turned our heads towards the figure standing behind us only to find a woman with braided black hair—plus the silver band across her hairline made it shine in the light—and a black tight shirt with the words _Death to Barbie _enticed above a burning Barbie doll, smiled at us kindly.

"Thalia, I didn't see you there," I answered happily. Thalia and I first met when Luke found me in the alleys, running away from home. We had become the best of friends and close sisters but… she almost died trying to get us to safety when we arrived at camp. Since her father is the one and only Zeus, he transformed her into a tree several years ago to contain her spirit in the one tree that could save this camp from invaders. Out of nowhere, when we placed the Golden Fleece on her dying tree this summer, she awoke right in front of me, lying there on the ground. But since she didn't want to be the child of the Great Prophecy, Lady Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, came to her and asked her to be her second in command next to Zoë Nightshade, a Huntress by Lady Artemis's side.

She's been a Huntress ever since last summer.

"How do you know about the cruise ship?" Percy asked questionably. Frankly, it got me curious as well. No one mentioned Luke's monster-infested cruise ship.

_She is not a threat, _A beautiful god-like voice answered in my thoughts. It was my mother. She usually talked to me whenever I needed guidance or wisdom. But even without those words in my thoughts, there was no doubt about it that Thalia was a threat.

"Chiron filled me in. So, we'd better start checking out the closest caves around New York and Manhattan," She ordered as she sat next to me. Percy looked at her irritatingly.

"Hey! Aren't _I_ supposed to lead this quest?"

"Well, you got any better ideas?" She asked, leaning her face towards the young man. This was just a typical day. Ever since Thalia turned her back against men, she's been a little more ill-tempered when it came to Percy.

"I was getting to that!" He bellowed back to her, their faces only inches away from one another and frankly too close to me. Pushing them apart, I looked at one another and they didn't seem to calm down.

"Hold it guys! Don't kill each other just yet. How about leaving the killing to the monsters we're about to face?" I asked calmly, trying to get the two half-bloods to do the same. Calm down. "You're no good to any of us if you're mad at each other." They seemed to consider that factor and sighed in defeat, crossing their arms across their chests in annoyance. Both of them were impossible to deal with sometimes… "Man, you guys are so alike."

"WE ARE NOT!" They bellowed in unison at me. That just made me laugh.

"Oh come on! You can't say that you don't act alike. You'd either be best friends or be about to strangle each other!"

"Whatever, let's get going." Thalia shook the subject off, stood up and walked up to the cliff, where the white van stood waiting for us. Grover was already waiting for us, chewing a metal tin can. He did that whenever he was anxious.

Something bothered me though. We were four going on this quest. Usually, the number is three. _One will be lost in the clash_. This could mean three of us were returning to camp safe. The other would either be kept behind or worse… I just didn't want to think of that. But the prophecy did say _you will race to bring the lost one to its loss_, meaning that we'd retrieve the one left behind but with the cost of death. That, again, wasn't the best thing in the world. Apparently, our odds weren't very good at the moment.

"Well, look who's worrying now," Percy said from beside me. He could read me as well as I could read him. Although that sometimes annoyed me, it was nice of him to comfort me when needed. I'd grown quite fond of this son of Poseidon ever since he arrived at camp two years ago. He's been helping me a lot and let me come along on my very first quest. I'd wanted one for years and now, because of Seaweed Brain, I had been going on a quest every summer. Now, it would be no different.

"Who says I am?"

"It shows on your face. What's up?"

"Just the fact that we're four on this quest, it's bothering me. The normal number is three. And you know what the prophecy says. It's just… not right," I explained. Normally, I wouldn't be worrying about prophecies but this one… the fact that someone would be left behind is bothering me. If it would be Thalia or Grover or even… Percy… who would be left behind, I would go anywhere just to get them back, even in the Underworld.

"Don't worry so much Annabeth. We'll figure it out. Now, let's just worry about getting to this certain cave," Percy said as he walked towards the van, his bag slung over his shoulder. Closing my eyes, I grabbed my bag and headed towards the van with the others. We all went inside the van and took a seat before Argus, the head of security and driver of Camp Half-Blood, started driving down Long Island and towards Manhattan.

Everyone busied themselves during the drive. Grover was still chewing on tin cans, trying to calm himself down for the quest to come. He'd also been quite worried about his search for Pan. He found nothing in the past few weeks and now, he was worried that his searcher's licence would be taken away. Thalia was looking at her silver bracelet, the bracelet that transformed into a strong and frightening shield called Aegis. But ever since she pledged herself to Artemis, she seemed to have a certain silver glow around her, showing her true self. Zeus must not have been very happy with his daughter when she chose to turn her back on the prophecy.

Percy, on the other hand, was just twirling his ballpoint pen in his hands, looking out the window occasionally. He couldn't keep still, that was the ADHD coming up. None of us could keep still. I know I was hitting my Yankees cap constantly, keeping myself occupied. Sometimes, Percy would look at me and smile, trying to comfort me.

I don't know why but… something attracted me to Percy, like a certain pull that brought me closer to him. But it could just mean that he was a good friend, nothing more. Sure he was brave but…

My thoughts were interrupted when a large _BANG_ was heard from right outside the van, making us swerve off the road. Argus pressed the breaks so abruptly our heads collided with the back of the seats. "Ugh…" I moaned, my head pounding violently. My hand went to my forehead to calm myself but suddenly, a large snarl was heard from outside the van. All of our heads turned to the side to find a large hellhound growling outside, preparing to pounce on the motorized vehicle we were in.

"Get out _now_!" Percy ordered and no one complained. We all jumped out of the van as fast as we could before the hellhound jumped onto the van, crushing it under its weight.

Well, there goes our ride…

The hellhound turned towards us and we all took out our weapons. The Celestial bronze knife Luke had given me so many years ago didn't feel right in my hands for once. Something must be wrong. As the hellhound bound towards us, we all rolled to the side, avoiding its large and dangerous teeth.

"I'll go on its back, trying to distract it," Thalia mentioned before running to the beast.

"Thalia, wait!" Percy warned but she didn't listen. Just like Thalia… Avoiding what Percy would have to say. Usually, if I would have to say something, Thalia would listen but she didn't like Percy at the moment. It explained a lot. As the Huntress ran toward the beast, something went wrong. The hellhound anticipated Thalia's actions and swung his paw at her. Luckily, she placed her shield in front of her but it didn't deflect the blow. Thalia was thrown far behind and hit her head on the grass quite hard, making her dazed. "Thalia!" He screamed and we all attacked the beast.

_Use your invisibility hat, Annabeth,_ My mother told me in my mind. Of course she would be telling me these kinds of things. Although it was obvious that I should attack the hellhound from behind, my mother always knew what to tell me. Placing the Yankees cap on my head, at that very moment, my body became invisible. I ran towards the beast, knowing it didn't see me coming. When it was attacking Percy, I jumped on his back and tried to stabilize myself. It knew something was on it. Even though I was invisible, the beast still felt me.

It moved from side to side, trying to shake me off considerably but I still wouldn't let go. Unfortunately, it slammed in into a tree, trying to shake me off. Of course black spots now circled my vision and my Yankees cap was shaken off but I didn't let go. I couldn't let go. "Annabeth!" Percy shouted from aside, trying to slice the monster but this one was smart. It knew what to do. It swung to the side and, by misfortune; Percy's sword sliced my arm, making me gasp in pain. But apparently, Seaweed Brain didn't notice. I brought my arm back and stabbed the hellhound in the collarbone, making it gasp in pain. The hellhound fell to the ground and disintegrated into black dust and fur, making me fall to the ground hard.

"Ow…" I complained while getting up shakily. Grover was giving Thalia some nectar to help her while Percy came rushing towards me.

"Annabeth, are you alright?" He asked as Percy supported me while my vision cleared. It didn't take long before I was alright.

"Yeah, just fine," I lied. My arm started slightly stinging but it was alright. Nothing was badly broken, just minor injuries.

"Oh gods, you're hurt!" He finally noticed the scratch on my arm, caused by his blade. "That's from my blade…"

"Wow, nothing gets past you, Seaweed Brain," I mocked with a casual smile, trying to lighten the mood but he grabbed a small dose of ambrosia and made me eat it. In no time, the scratch was fading, leaving a small scar. "Thanks…"

"Now, let's get going. We've got a few miles until we get to New York," Percy said as all four of us followed him, all of us going towards New York.

This was going splendidly…

**Alright so what did you guys think? Lovely start for them eh? Well, please REVIEW to tell me what you guys thought. **

**Bellacullenswan17**

9


	4. We get sidetracked by monsters

**Hey guys, ok so I didn't get many reviews for Chapter 2 so I hope to get a few more for this one. There's a lot more action in this one than the others, trust me. So please, READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 3

We get sidetracked by monsters

**Annabeth's Point of View**

It took us a few hours but we finally arrived. I had collected my fallen baseball cap before leaving and we found ourselves a few yards from Central Park. "Alright, so where do we go now?" I asked while looking around. Where would be the perfect place for Luke to bring his army?

"We should check the harbour. Maybe we could see the_ Princess Andromeda_ around here," Percy admitted and we all nodded. Everyone started walking towards the closest harbour and found nothing. No big cruise ship.

"Aren't we looking at this blindly?" I asked when we had tried three harbours and came up empty. The sun was coming down and we were all very tired. No one seemed in the mood to keep searching for today. But if Luke would be attacking camp soon, then we had to keep looking. "I mean, we don't even know if it's in New York. He could be anywhere."

"Annabeth's right. We don't know where we're going. We need guidance," Thalia mentioned. That nectar Grover gave her had helped her but she still seemed slightly dazed. Maybe she hit her head harder than we thought.

"Percy, why don't you ask your dad to help?" Grover suggested, which seemed like a good idea to me. Poseidon was the god of the seas. Maybe he could do something to help us.

"Well, I could try," Percy said before closing his eyes and concentrating on his father's thoughts. "Hey Dad, um, could you give us any hints as to where we should go to find Luke?" He asked and for a while, nothing happened. We all waited for Poseidon to give us some sign but again, nothing happened. Percy opened his eyes and disappointment filled them. "He didn't answer…" He sounded quite disappointed in his father. Usually, Poseidon gave him some kind of advice. Now, there was nothing.

Suddenly, as we turned our backs, something hit Percy behind the head. "Ow!" Percy answered while scratching his head. A piece of metal slammed against the boards under us, which caught my attention. I picked up the metal and examined it carefully. It was a rectangular golden plate. It wasn't large but it was heavy. Something was engraved in the metal under all of the seaweed stuck on it. With my dyslexia, it took a few seconds before I read _Philadelphia Fishing Co _written under the seaweed_._

Ha, kind of ironic. Seaweed Brain gets hit in the head by a metal plaque filled with seaweed.

"Guys, check this out," I implied and everyone looked at the answer in my hands.

"No wonder my head's pounding. That thing must weigh a ton!" Percy complained while he still scratched the back of his head.

"But at least now we have a destination," I replied.

"But how are we going to get there? Argus went back to camp on foot and the van's destroyed," Thalia asked.

"Good point," Grover put in. Sometimes, he really got on my nerves. "How about we catch a cab?"

"With what money? All we've got about fifty bucks and a few drachmas. We're not going to get anywhere anytime soon."

"But Philadelphia's only an hour away. We can get there in no time. And besides, with all of our money put together, we can get there and have a little money left over," Grover insisted and finally, Thalia gave in.

"Fine, let's just get going. I want to get that stolen item and get back to camp. Lady Artemis will be asking me to leave camp in a few days." Thalia was somehow in a horrible mood today. Maybe she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. But no one complained and we all caught a taxi from New York to Philadelphia.

It cost us most of our money but we had some left over. We arrived in front of the _Philadelphia Fishing Co._ but found no one there. It stood right beside the ocean, overlooking a few cliffs and rocks. And… there was a cave. "Guys, I think we just found the place," I answered with a slight smile spreading on my lips. Everyone turned their heads to find the cave. It was quite large and… a large white ship stood a few meters away from it. The _Princess Andromeda_. Luke's monster-infested ship was already docked close to the ship.

"Luke's already here," Percy pointed out.

"Thanks, captain DUH!" I mocked him pleasantly. He smiled back but it faded a few seconds later as he turned his head to the side and looked horrified.

"Guys, I don't think we're getting there right now," Grover answered as he pointed straight to where Percy was looking. We all turned our heads toward the event and we all looked horrified as well. About twenty monsters were standing in front of us, armed and ready to attack. "He's trying to distract us."

"Well, we'll just have to slice our way through. We can't let them get the best of us," Percy mentioned and we all drew our weapons, ready to fight them. The moment we drew our blades and shields, the monsters all charged at once. We fought and sliced through many monsters but they just kept coming.

"What are we going to do?" I asked, being forced to stand back to back with Percy. Thalia was fighting many monsters at once as Grover blew in his reed pipes, making vines grow from the ground and enticing the _dracaena _in the process. Many giants and abandoned demigods kept attacking. Most of the demigods fighting us were only twelve or thirteen years old. They felt abandoned so they joined Luke and his plan to bring back Kronos.

"We can't keep fighting like this. Luke's plan is to get us to avoid going to the cave," Percy answered as he sliced a hellhound across the chest, leaving a trail of dust and fur on the floor.

"Then what do you suggest we do Seaweed Brain?" I asked slightly annoyed as a _dracaena_ came at me and tried to injure me. Luckily, I was smarter than her so, my knife was sent straight through her chest, and she disintegrated immediately.

"Fall back!" Percy screamed and all of us ran away from the scene and towards the cave. But the monsters were still on our tail. They wouldn't shake off. Luckily, Thalia still had some arrows and started firing at the monsters, easily disintegrating them in the process. Only demigods were left. But we couldn't attack our own campers. They had once been part of camp, part of the Half-Blood family. None of us had the courage to kill even one. Percy looked around and found the lake as an option. "Guys, keep them occupied. I have a plan," Percy commanded and we all nodded, going back to fighting several demigods as Seaweed Brain went to the water.

"Percy, what are you doing?!" Thalia asked annoyed as two demigods tried to fight her. But of course, she overpowered them by a landslide. She hit them in the head, causing them to collapse on the ground unconsciously.

Suddenly, Percy lifted his hands and water surged out of the lake, coming towards him. He was controlling the water to obey his commands. The water went towards the demigods, hitting them straight in the stomach and sending them flying towards the park. Percy had driven them away simply by controlling the water. That was pretty cool, if you asked me.

"Nice distraction, dude," Grover congratulated Percy as we approached him, everyone starting to freeze in the weather. Even though it was still only October, fall was here and because of the temperature of the lake, it made the air seem colder around us.

"Do you think they're alright?" I asked sadly, looking at the park about a mile away. Even Thalia couldn't blame me for worrying about the kids who used to belong to Camp Half-Blood. She fought to keep everyone safe and we just fought a few of our friends.

"They'll be a little shaken up but otherwise, they're fine," Percy informed us, panting slightly. It was the first time I had seen my best friend so exhausted after using the power of the sea.

"We better get inside the cave and try to find that missing weapon," Grover mentioned, which we all agreed on. As we rushed inside the cave, there were no lights. There was only darkness. Luckily, Percy's sword Riptide had a faint glow with the Celestial bronze. "Guys, did I mention that I really hate caves and underground places?" Grover insisted frighteningly, staying extremely close behind me.

"It's going to be fine," I mentioned, but I was mostly trying to reassure myself. Frankly, there was no feeling of happiness or encouragement here, only solitude and darkness. We were in the cavern of the lost; that much was for sure. We advanced into the darkest part of the cavern and found a few torches on the walls. Someone had been here recently. But… something haunted me. How was it this easy to find it? On a normal quest, it would take us days to find it. Now, it took hours. Something felt wrong.

"Guys, I have a—" But my sentence was cut short when the sound of footsteps were heard from behind. Unfortunately, there were no hiding spots in this small cavern.

"Well, we have a few pesky half-bloods, I see," A familiar voice said from behind us. We all drew our weapons and prepared ourselves for the enemy approaching. In the dim light of the cavern, a person appeared. It was a man with sandy hair wearing a white T-Shirt, a pair of normal jeans but what shocked me was the familiarity of the scar on his face. It ran along his face, the mark from a dragon.

"Luke," I mentioned emotionless. It hurt me to look at him after all he's done to me and my friends. Luke had told me what I really was, a demigod. He, Thalia and I had run away from home. We knew what it was like not to be accepted by anyone. Unlike Luke, I had worked with my father towards a better relationship. He just hated his parents.

"Nice to see you again, Annabeth," He mentioned with a grin. It reminded me so much of the old Luke, his appearance mostly.

"We know you stole that item Luke. Give it back," Percy answered. It should have been better if Chiron actually told us what it was. Searching for it would be better if we knew what it looked like or what it was.

"Oh, you mean this?" Luke answered as he raised a circular mechanical cone. It seemed to be connected to wires and gears made of Celestial bronze. The machine not only seemed small but also very powerful. "Such a mechanism for Hephaestus to make... It's quite the machine, if you ask me."

"_Di immortales_, it couldn't be…" I answered shakily.

"Yes Annabeth, you know exactly what it is," Luke cooed happily.

"Mind filling us in?" Percy whispered to me.

"It's a magical detonator given to Ares by Hephaestus. The only weapon that could destroy any shield, even destroy the border line at camp," I explained shocked. How did Luke get a weapon that Ares owned? He'd be nuts to try and steal something that belonged to the god of war.

"It's a very powerful weapon that can only be used by a god," Thalia finished. Of course, she did leave out the part that it was given to Ares in cases of emergency. He hadn't used it in thousands of years yet.

"Ah, but Thalia, you forgot that any weapon used by the gods can be used by demigods as well," Luke taunted as he placed the detonator under his arm and placed his other hand on the hilt of his blade Backbiter, half tempered steel, half Celestial bronze.

"How were you able to take it from Olympus?" I asked as Luke set the detonator on a table against the far wall of the cavern. Looking around, I noticed that the cave was actually quite large. Where Luke stood—which was about ten feet away from us—the ceiling was quite low, only about five feet above his head. But from where we stood, it was ten feet higher, large enough to make a commotion and the ceiling above us might not collapse. That is a very strong _might_. On the other hand, Luke's ceiling might collapse under him with the slightest touch. Perfect escape route, if we were ever to need one.

As if Luke didn't need the weapon anymore, he started walking around us, making all five of us walking cautiously around in a large oval shape. "Hey, when you're the son of a stupid thief, you tend to get your hands on a few… valuables," He mocked with that smile of his again. My hand wound around my small knife; waiting for the right moment to strike the one person I cared most about when I was younger. Killing him would be completely wrong and frankly, I would never be able to do it, but Percy will _not_ be the one to fight Luke Castellan. "It was quite easy. During the summer solstice, all the gods were too busy fighting over something small, so, what better way to get what I need than to sneak in Ares's cabin while they're all busy bickering like old hags and geezers," He explained mockingly. How could Luke have changed so much in just a few shorts years? He never used to be like that… I miss the old Luke. "If you ask me, it was the perfect setting."

My fingers grabbed my knife so tightly that my knuckles actually turned white. He would stoop so low as to destroy his home to get back at the gods. I was about to speak when Thalia took the words right out of my mouth. "I used to think that you were like a big brother. Now, you're just a monster. I don't know you anymore."

"Of course you do, Thalia. I'm still the same old Luke you know and love, but with just a little more power at his disposal," Luke answered but Thalia boiled at his words.

"I don't love you, not after what you're trying to become,"

"You'll find that this is the winning side. Nothing good comes of trying to side with the gods. Now, if you all want to stay alive, you should join me," Luke offered.

"No," We all answered at the same time. No one wanted to be against the gods. Our parents had done nothing wrong. Luke just felt rejected by Hermes. Frankly, it sounds like Kronos is at fault, for betraying his sons and daughters.

Luke _tsk_ed and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a cold feeling went through my spine, like something was coming at me from behind. We turned our heads slightly to find monsters coming up behind us. Many furies, Laistrygonians—those giants mostly stood outside of the cavern—and many other monsters enclosed the entrance. If we wanted to escape, then we would need to fight them all off. Although, it would be quite simple. They were minor monsters. "Well, I was afraid that it would come to this but… if you won't join me, then I'll just have to kill you all," He answered and some of the monsters started approaching. Thalia prepared her bow while Grover took out his reed pipes. Percy pointed Riptide towards the monsters as I pointed my knife towards Luke.

"Guys, I'll take on Luke," I mentioned as the monsters plus Luke approached us slowly. My friends all turned their heads in shock.

"Annabeth, I don't think—" Percy started saying but I interrupted him.

"I can take him, don't worry." But that was probably a promise that I couldn't keep. But Luke didn't seem any different. He didn't care if it was me or Percy fighting him, as long as he killed someone. Luke had changed so much… It wasn't the same guy that I knew. "You just worry about the other monsters. Help me out when you're done. Take this. It'll help," I answered while giving Percy my invisibility hat before we all charged at our opponents in hope to win the fight.

Luke was prepared for my attacks. I could hear from behind me that Percy and the others were winning the battle. Screams of defeat from the monsters echoed throughout the cavern, causing the ceiling above me to form dust. That was a terrible sign. It would make the ceiling descend if it received another blow. I had to push Luke and the others away and into the safest part of the cavern. "Guys, push the monsters out of the cave! It's crumbling!" I warned them as Luke and I clashed swords, pushing each other and trying to see who had the most strength.

"You think you can beat me, Annabeth? Everyone knows you can't hurt me," Luke mocked as he tried to push me but I pushed him back, making him lose his balance.

"You're not the same Luke that I knew," I answered before my knife hit his but he pushed me back slightly, right under the lowest height of the cave. More dust came onto my shoulders, indicating that the cave ceiling was about to crumble under us. But wait a second… the detonator! If that were to get stuck under here, then it would be extremely dangerous.

Looking to my right, the detonator was a few feet behind me, just stand there. If I could get Luke to come at me, then I could get the others to grab it. And as predicted, Luke tried to slash me when my eyes were directed somewhere else, which didn't work like he planned. Stepping to the side, he tried to slash me on the side but I hit him with the hilt of my knife right in the chest, making him breathless and return under the highest ceiling. Perfect… Just enough time to get the detonator somewhere safe.

Grabbing the machine, I yelled: "Percy, catch!" before throwing it at my friend, who turned his attention just in time to catch it with one hand and keeping his sword in the battle. Out of nowhere, a Fury tried to claw Percy but failed and was ricocheted towards the ceiling, making it crumble under the force. Good thing the others were out of the cave and only a few feet from the entrance.

On the other hand, I was right under it. Rocks started to fall from above—some rocks falling from the upper ceiling and the lowest one crumbling completely—but I had enough time to jump out of the way as the ceiling crumbled and blocked the entrance, leaving us with only a patch above Luke and I, only big enough to fit and Fury or any sort of flying monster.

"Annabeth!" Percy screamed as the rocks fell to the ground, causing a massive blockage in the entrance, leaving me behind.

**Percy's Point of View**

"Annabeth!" I screamed as the cave crumbled, blocking us from Luke and my best friend. Everyone now looked at the blocked entrance, hoping Annabeth made it out alright.

"Guys, we've got bigger issues!" Grover answered as more monsters came at us. Anger boiled inside of me, knowing that another line of the prophecy came true. _One will be left behind in the clash._ There was no way we could get to her. At least thirty feet away, she might be hurt or even… no! Some part of me knew that Annabeth was still alive. But with that much amount of rock blocking our way; it would take at least ten Cyclopes for us to remove these boulders. That anger burst through my veins and made me stronger, able to slice through ten of the monsters. Grover and Thalia took care of the rest, receiving a few cuts and bumps in the process but no major injuries.

When the fight was over, I rushed over to the blocked entrance and tried to remove a few boulders, desperately trying to reach Annabeth. Annabeth couldn't be the one of the prophecy. She just couldn't! "Annabeth, come on! Annabeth!" I screamed, unable to remove most of the boulders. They were way too heavy.

Someone placed their hand on my shoulder but I didn't look. My mind was too preoccupied in removing the boulders. "Percy, there's no way we can get to her." It was Thalia. Her voice was pained, heartbroken by the fact that the person who was practically her sister was stuck under this weight. I can't believe Annabeth had saved the detonator but not herself. She could be in serious trouble! "I'm sorry." And with that, I stopped trying and placed my hand on the detonator on my lap. Annabeth had given herself up so we could save this thing.

"We'll come back for her, Percy." Grover came up behind me and looked at me sadly. He was a little beaten up but otherwise, he looked fine. His baseball cap was on the ground a few feet away, his horns coming out of his curly hair. Thalia was a bit more beaten up than the rest of us. She was out of arrows and had resorted herself to use her shield and sword.

Something fell from my large hoodie pocket. Annabeth's invisibility cap. It just infuriated me to look at her hat. If she hadn't fought Luke, maybe she'd be standing right next to me at this very moment. "Come on Percy, we should get back to camp and explain to Chiron what happened," Thalia said and I stood up, the detonator in one hand and crumpling the Yankees cap in the other.

"I'll come back Annabeth. I'm going to save you, even if it kills me," I answered, looking at the pile of boulders that stopped me from going after Annabeth right now. Closing my eyes, everyone walked away from the cavern, leaving my best friend in trouble behind. That must have been the worst thing I've ever done in my life, leave someone behind.

I'll be back Annabeth, I promise.

**So, what did you think of Annabeth's little scene? So the weight of the knife was because of this particular battle, if you haven't figured that out yet. Alright, so if you want the next chapter faster, REVIEW!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

14


	5. My dream tells me the truth

**Alright guys, so I haven't gotten many reviews yet and it's been two chapters. I hope the chapters are good for you guys so please, REVIEW and tell me what you think of them. Thank you!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 4

My dream tells me the truth

**Percy's Point of View**

This broke me completely. Three of us had returned to camp, not four. Every camper there came running towards us, probably about to say _Yay! Percy came through,_ or _Yeah! Percy's back. Let's party for victory._ But there was no reason to party. Not without Annabeth. She was in trouble and we were here.

Chiron came bursting through the crowd in his centaur form, a smile coming on his face when he saw us. "Percy! You did it! You brought back the detonator and…" But he didn't finish his sentence. The expression on our faces must have told him what was wrong. He looked at the three of us and found Annabeth missing. "Oh Percy, I'm so sorry." He placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. Nothing could help this situation.

I shrugged his hand off and walked towards my lonely cabin, passing the Athena cabin in the process. Stopping in front of it, I saw inside. It was filled with bookshelves lined against the walls and diagrams on easels. Annabeth's cabin mate, Malcolm, saw me and rushed over. "Hey Percy, how'd it go?" He asked enthusiastically, like he didn't know about the past events. I looked away from him, hoping not to meet his misty eyes, eyes just like Annabeth's.

How could I tell him? How in the world would I be able to tell him that his counsellor was just left behind because of me? It would break his heart and all the hearts of the Athena cabin. "Um… it went fine. We achieved our goal," I lied, trying to sound upbeat before walking back to my cabin. No one interrupted me from then on. Even if they did try to talk to me, my mind was somewhere else so their questions would go unanswered.

Opening the door to my cabin, I found it empty. Well, would it ever be full? No. I'm the only son of Poseidon at this camp. But the emptiness of the cabin wasn't the only thing upsetting me. We'd gone back to camp with the stolen item but… Annabeth was still missing. She had done everything possible for us to escape with the detonator that she didn't even think of saving herself.

I sat down on my bunk and played around with Annabeth's invisibility cap. It really upset me to look at it but… it was the only reminder that Annabeth was still alive, hopefully. Her scent still stuck to the hat. "I'll find you Annabeth, I promise," I promised once more for the second time today.

"We'll find her Percy," Grover said from the doorframe. Turning my head his way, my eyes adjusted to him in the dim light of the moonlight. Unfortunately, we had all missed supper. But thankfully, Grover held two plates of food in his hands. That satyr was a genius sometimes.

"Hey, thanks G-Man." He came next to me, gave me the extra plate of food and sat down next to me. But… we needed to give a little donation of our food to the gods. Shouldn't we…?

"Don't worry Percy, I already burned a part of our meal in the fire, asking them to help us find Annabeth." Ok, sometimes Grover was a life saver. As soon as he mentioned that, we both dug into our foods and ate greedily. It had been many hours since we ate something and that meant that Thalia must be eating like crazy as well. "She's tough Percy. She'll make it through," Grover mentioned when we both finished. I was surprised that the Harpies hadn't barged in for passing curfew. Maybe Chiron talked to them to let us off the hook this one time.

"I know…" was my simple answer.

"Well, you'd better get some rest. In the morning, we'll try and look for ways to find Annabeth." And with that, Grover walked out of the cabin with a pleasant smile, but I knew that he was trying to hide his grief. Annabeth was also his best friend. She'd done everything with the two of us. We just had to find her!

Soon afterwards, my eyes surprisingly closed but my dreams didn't help my situation. Mostly, they would involve the quests Annabeth, Grover and I went on in the past. For the next few nights, that's what my nightmares included. Past quests, just remembering Annabeth the way she was before she was engulfed under the boulders. It angered me that my nightmares weren't helping me this time!

Five days after Annabeth had been 'crushed', a helpful dream finally came to me. Actually, it was more of a nightmare if you ask me.

In this dream, I was someone else. A man with sandy hair, a blue T-Shirt, and black jeans. It was Luke. He walked up to a large cabin, lost in a dark forest. On the wooden door, two enchanted sticks were painted in red. He/I opened the door and walked in. He walked into the hallway, opened a door that led probably into the basement and went down the steep stairs that were only illuminated by a few torches down the way.

When arriving to his destination, my eyes must have opened wide, because the scene frightened me to my very core. A beautiful woman was standing in the middle of the room—it was Hecate, the Goddess of Magic and Witchcraft—beside a man in a military uniform, his two different coloured eyes looking at a young lady, chained at the ankles and wrists. There was a small window, an opening in the dark room but it was quite small, only able to squeeze in one person at the time. But the woman… She was dangling from the ceiling. Her beautiful blond hair was sprawled across her shoulders and plastered to her sweaty forehead. Her face held many cuts and bruises but her misty eyes held no fear. It was Annabeth. She'd been beaten, enchained and weapon less. And she was panting.

"Tell me!" Hecate screamed as she waved a hand and soon, Annabeth had ground her teeth together in an attempt to hold back her screams. The chains were getting smaller every second.

Annabeth was being stretched apart.

"No!" Annabeth screamed, hurting my ears to hear such a painful scream from her. She's suffering so much…

"Obviously, this daughter of Athena won't tell us anything. It's pointless to use your magic on her, Hecate," The man in the military suit said. In a second, Annabeth's suffering stopped and she breathed heavily, her face scrunching up in pain. More sweat swirled down her cheeks and over her cuts. She looked Hecate straight in the eyes as the military man approached my best friend.

He studied her but unexpectedly, Annabeth smashed her head against his, making him back up in frustration. That a girl! The military man glared at Annabeth as he rubbed his red forehead. Then, anger surged through me as he slapped my best friend across the cheek, making her head turn to the side. How dare he!

"To believe that you got a rotten daughter of Athena instead of Percy Jackson," The military man answered as he looked at Luke.

"In all fairness Dr., I was hoping that by eliminating her, I would be able to get to Percy," Luke answered as he walked beside the military man, looking at Annabeth. Her eyes held two emotions: anger and revenge against Luke. She would have tried and wiggle out of her chains but unfortunately, Annabeth didn't have the strength anymore. She'd been drained completely. "But he'll come looking for her and he'll play right into our hands."

"No he won't," Annabeth answered weakly, panting with every word.

"My dear, apparently you don't know your friends very well," The doctor answered as he ran his fingers across Annabeth's beaten face. But again, she bit his hand in an attempt to anger him. She truly was a fighter but was it the right thing to do when she could hardly move? The doctor backed up and held his hand in pain; it had started to bleed slightly.

_Keep it up Annabeth!_ I wanted to scream but no sound came. She held her head high and stared her enemies in the eyes. The doctor growled and brought his hand up to slap Annabeth again but stopped at the last minute, a grin playing on his face.

"I have a better thought," The doctor mentioned.

He walked over to a small table and grabbed a gold knife, much different than Annabeth's. It shined in the dim light of the cell. A golden aura glinted as the doctor held it up. Ok, frankly this guy doesn't look like a doctor! More like the general of pain.

"Such a magnificent weapon you stole from Hephaestus, Luke! Never in a thousand years did I imagine he could be fooled twice!" The doctor mentioned as he approached Annabeth slowly, the knife held in his hands closing in on her face. "It's quite the wondrous weapon… So many ways to use it," The doctor said as his free hand hovered over Annabeth's stomach and eventually placing it at her hip. She squirmed and tried to shake him off but he was too powerful.

_Stop Annabeth! He'll only hurt you more!_ I wanted to tell her but again, no sound came from my mouth.

"This is one of the ways," The doctor said as he plunged the knife on her far right side of Annabeth's stomach, making her gasp in pain, her mouth hanging open and her eyes bulging out in horror and pain.

_NO!_ I screamed at the top of my lungs as the doctor removed his hand but kept the knife in Annabeth's stomach.

She tried to regain some strength but couldn't even lift her head. Annabeth… It broke my heart to see her in such pain. "Luke, every hour you will be in charge of giving this Athena girl some of Hecate's special nectar," The doctor mentioned while walking away from a very hurt and pained Annabeth.

Luke looked at her once and walked away from her with a simple "Yes sir." The scene dissolved and Annabeth bowed her head in exhaustion.

"Annabeth!" I shouted, standing up in bed with sweat pouring down my face. Poor Annabeth. She'd been tortured and knifed but still she would fight them. She's one brave woman, that's for sure. But I had to save her. There's no mistaking the face that Annabeth wouldn't last long, even with some nectar. No, Chiron could help her. But… Was I rescuing Annabeth just because she needed healing? Or was there another reason behind it? A tug at my heart, a feeling I've never had before, told me that it wasn't just because she needed healing.

But first, I needed to tell Grover and Thalia.

Jumping out of bed, I grabbed my backpack and started filling it with clothes, bottles of nectar, squares of ambrosia and a few other essentials. By my bunk bed lay my ballpoint pen and Annabeth's Yankees cap. Just looking at it brought back the images of Annabeth dangling from the chains, all bloody and battered. We had to find her!

Running out of my cabin with the baseball cap and my pen in hand, I ran straight to the Artemis cabin. Yeah, now that Thalia turned her back on Zeus and basically every man on Earth, she's staying in the Artemis cabin alone. When arriving at the shining cabin—yes, this is the only cabin in the entire camp that shines in the moonlight—I pushed open the door and found a stirring Thalia. Her eyes opened seconds later to find me right beside her bunk. I swear, she must have jumped at least a foot in her bed as she gasped in fright.

"Percy, what in the Gods' names are you—" She took a good look at me, she stopped her sentence, finishing her ranting. Thalia threw her covers aside, showing me a long nightgown made completely of silver, as she looked me straight in the eyes. "Percy, what's wrong?"

"It's Annabeth. I know where she is."

**Annabeth's Point of View**

Five days. That's how long it's been since I've seen fresh air or my friends. Luke had knocked me out as I tried to remove the boulders, letting my guard down. It was a stupid mistake on my part. And now, I was suffering the consequences. Slaps, stretching, knifed, there was nothing that they hadn't done to me.

My head hung down, no strength had come back to me since they stabbed me about an hour ago. Maybe it was more or less. It was hard to tell time when you're being beaten to exhaustion. "Annabeth?" A voice came out from the distance. My vision had started fading after a little while. It was familiar, but my heart didn't pull me towards it when… Percy was around. And that voice did not belong to Percy. It was Luke, the one who had watched me being beaten and knifed and did nothing to stop it.

With everything last ounce of strength left in my body, I lifted my head just an inch. My vision adjusted but it didn't help me see Luke truly. "Luke…" I whispered, but he didn't hear me. My voice was far too weak.

"Come on Annabeth, I've brought you some nectar," He answered while walking towards me. My hands and feet were no use to me now; they were just dangling from the chains. Luke walked up to me, a fuzzy bottle in his hands and placed a straw to my lips. But I will not drink whatever he gives me. For all I knew, it could be poisoned. "Oh come on, it won't bite. It's nectar. It'll make you feel better."

"Why… should I trust you…?" I asked weakly, trying to look him straight in the eyes. My blond hair stuck to my face, filled with blood and sweat.

"Don't you remember all those years ago when Thalia and I took you in, to help you?" He asked, making me feel guilty. Closing my eyes, I opened my mouth slightly and he placed the straw in my mouth. A few sips later, my wound started to feel slightly better. But the liquid tasted… off. It wasn't like the nectar Chiron used to give us at camp. This one tasted like magic and unnatural herbs, something Hecate would use in her concoctions.

"What happened to you Luke…?" My weak voice wasn't any higher than a whisper but he heard me loud and clear. Luke placed the nectar aside and looked at me with an emotionless look in his eyes.

"The gods don't deserve to live. Look at Athena, Annabeth. Has she said anything to you or even come to help you lately?" He tried to make me feel guilty but… there was no way to be mad at my mother. She had saved me thousands of times in the past. This one time that she hasn't tried to help didn't bother me much. I could die and it wouldn't affect anyone besides my friends at camp. "You know, if you would join me, then you wouldn't have to be hurt this way. You'd be safe," Luke mentioned, his voice becoming emotional, kind and caring. It was unlike him lately.

But there was no doubting my decision. "Over my dead body… You changed too much… You're not the Luke I knew…" I answered weakly, denying his offer. He slightly twitched his hand and sighed deeply.

"Well then, let's see what Percy will do when he finds you here. I sure hope you don't die, Annabeth," He answered before walking out of the cell angrily. Luke hadn't liked my answer but it was true. No way was I going to join him, even in my condition. He shut the door behind him and left me alone once more in the dark cell. A part of me didn't want Percy to come because he would be in more danger than ever but… my heart wanted him to come and save me from this horrible fate.

"Percy… please save me…" was my weak reply before my vision clouded and I bowed my head once more, staring at the cement floor.

**Alright so what did you think? Was it enough for you guys? Hopefully… So please REVIEW!!! Pretty please…**

**Bellacullenswan17**

10


	6. I finally see my best friend's mom

**Alright guys, sorry about the delay. I've been reading like a maniac, have school on top of that and kinda had a totally huge writer's block. So please forgive me and read this sorta short chapter. READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 5

I finally see my best friend's mom

**Percy's Point of View**

"So, you saw Annabeth getting…?" Thalia couldn't finish her sentence. I had just told her what my dream showed me and she just stood there in complete silence. Annabeth had been through everything with Thalia and now that Annabeth was in trouble, the daughter of Zeus was on the verge of crying.

"Yeah, she's in pain," I answered frantically. We'd been at this for a few minutes and both Thalia and Grover had been silent during the whole explanation. "We need to find her. And fast. She won't last long."

"No duh Sherlock but how do we get to Hecate's cabin? We don't even know where it is," She answered and in all fairness, I had no clue what to do now. It was as if my brain had turned to seaweed—ha, sort of ironic at this point—and no plan came to mind.

"Maybe I can help," A male voice said from behind us. Turning around, we were face to face with Chiron in his centaur form. He must have left the wheelchair in his cabin. "Pardon me for observing your conversation but I overheard you needed to get to Hecate's quite soon," Chiron admitted.

"Yeah, we do. We can't wait here any longer. Annabeth's in trouble," I explained as quickly as possible. This little stop was making us wait around and Annabeth didn't have that much time to spare. At the rate she was being beaten, Annabeth might live to see the next morning but that was about it.

"Percy, you know that this is—"

"Chiron, we don't have time! Annabeth will die if we don't get to her _now_! So, if you have any information to share, do it now. 'Cause we're leaving now." Maybe my tone was a little harsh but Annabeth needed our help _now_ and this was not helping. She just couldn't die…

Chiron sighed and pinched the bridge of his human nose before speaking once again. "Her cabin is about three hours on foot south from camp. But do be careful. She has many magical wards that will set off when any person crosses it. Take a few pegasi with you and you will be able to get there in time and bring Annabeth home safely. So, try to find some way around the wards and again, be careful Percy," He recommended, placing a hand on my shoulder and looking at me with those eyes of his that has lightened me since the first day he became my teacher.

"We will. Thanks Chiron," I answered before we walked away from Chiron and went to the stables where they kept Blackjack, my Pegasus. Once arriving there, all I heard was: _Hey boss, what'cha need?_ Blackjack was looking at me with a wicked grin, but it was immediately erased when he saw me. Of course Pegasi could talk to me. My father created horses. _What's wrong?_

"Hey Blackjack, we need you to fly us south. Do you thing you can do it?" I asked while approaching him and extended my hand, which he placed his muzzle in my palm.

_Sure, Porkpie will be sure to bring your two friends,_ Blackjack thought and that placed a smile on my face.

"Thanks. We'd better get going," I answered just as both Pegasi and walked out of the stables as fast as we could. Walking away with our weapons and bags—and a few bandages for Annabeth—in hand, a sudden feeling came inside of me, telling me to stop. When I did, the two of them looked at me confusingly.

"Percy, we have to keep going," Thalia answered when she looked at me questioningly.

"I'll be right there," I answered while turning my head over my shoulder and saw something rustle behind a bush. My eyes scrunched together and saw that a woman was standing in the darkness. "You guys go ahead." And with that, I walked away from them and walked up to the woman in the darkness. As I got closer, her figure got brighter. She was a beautiful woman wearing a white dress that made her features pop out. Her hair had been curled up, its black locks shining in the moonlight. The woman had glassy gray eyes, just like… Annabeth.

"Hello Percy Jackson." Her voice was like wind chimes, breezing in the wind and sending a warm melody to everyone around her. "I suppose you know who I am."

"Athena," I answered without any hesitation. She looked exactly like her daughter, except for the hair. And Athena was as beautiful as her daughter. Oh, if only Annabeth were here to see her own mother.

"Correct. And I presume you know why I am here."

"Because of your daughter."

"It's quite terrible that one of my children is in the hands of Hecate and her minions. That woman has put wards around her hiding place, making it impossible for me to aid my daughter. And so, I need your assistance in rescuing her," She responded calmly but sadly, which only made my stomach hurt even more. Seeing Athena here in front of me made me feel even worse than I already felt. I let down Annabeth, and it was because of me that she's been hurt.

"Exactly what can I do to help you? I barely have a plan to get Annabeth back," I answered solemnly. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. That was why Annabeth always figured out plans and whatnot at camp.

"That's where my gifts come in handy." Gifts? At a time like this? Well, anything that came from Athena could help in _any_ way. She took her large purse in her hands and dug through it to take out three golden headbands. "These will make it impossible for magic to harm any of you. Place them a few feet away from the wards and you will be able to sneak by anything," She explained while handing me the headbands. She rummaged through her large purse once more and took out a metal bottle.

Somehow, I knew what was inside.

"Greek fire."

"Very clever, Percy. Yes, it is Greek fire. It will burn or blow up any substance. It might help in getting in or out of the cabin. But please Percy, even if I don't agree to your relationship between the both of you, you need to get my daughter out of there soon," She answered with a slight smile at the end.

Placing every gift in my backpack, I smiled back at her and said, "I'll do my best. But we'll get her out of there."

"But beware Percy; I feel that this will not be the end. There will be more to come," She answered before a light started to appear, making me turn my head immediately so I wouldn't be obliterated by Athena's true form. When the light extinguished, I turned my head to see no one there, just me and the woods. Walking back to the others, they all looked at me confusingly.

"What were you doing?" Thalia asked impatiently. She didn't like the fact that we have to wait a little more to go save Annabeth but she wouldn't blame me for this.

"I had a little talk with Athena," I answered and her expression softened, as expected.

"What did she say?" Grover asked.

And I told them about the little conversation in the woods. They didn't dare interrupt me while I explained what happened. And they were quite shocked about Hecate's ward. Of course they thought it would be impossible to get Annabeth now but then, their expressions lightened when they heard about Athena's gifts.

"So now, we can get Annabeth and get out without being detected by Hecate or Luke," Thalia answered with a slight smile.

"Yeah, but we'll have to get out quickly if we're going to use the Greek fire. And don't forget that Luke might be there. He is, after all, on Kronos's side," Grover answered before any of us could say anything.

"True. So let's get going. It's still the middle of the night, which gives us an opportunity to get her now. And she won't last long, even with nectar," I responded and they all nodded, even the Pegasi responded. We embarked on both Pegasus and they flew away from Camp Half-Blood. Riding Blackjack felt nice and comforting. I'd saved him from Luke's demon-infested ship and now, he felt like he owed me big time. Frankly, he didn't own me anything. Blackjack looked so miserable on that ship that he couldn't stay there any longer.

We flew at about sixty miles per hour on a Pegasus, which cut our distance short. Obviously, Blackjack and Porkpie flew faster than normal, knowing Annabeth was in trouble. And another obvious fact was that Blackjack knew how I felt about her, which was totally wrong. I didn't feel anything special for Annabeth. She was my best friend and…

Wait a second, did I feel a certain way towards Annabeth? That tug at my heart came back, giving me a hint that I _did_ feel something special towards Annabeth Chase.

Right now, that feeling could be pushed back. The only thing that mattered now was to get to that cabin and bring Annabeth back safely where she could get special care for her wounds.

We raced south and found the cabin only a few feet under us. It was quite large making logs marked with strange writing filled the surroundings of the house shine in a white light. But wait… it wasn't the moonlight. The magic that surrounded the house made the marks stand out. That must be the ward.

"Set us down a few feet away," I ordered and both Pegasi obeyed. When they set us down, anyone could tell that we were far enough that the wards hadn't discovered us. Giving a headband to Thalia and Grover, we placed them on and started walking towards the cabin carefully.

"Ok, we've got to be extra quiet. We don't know if they have any guards or someone on the inside," Thalia warned as she touched her bracelet and Aegis, her special—and frightening—shield came to life. Grover took out his reed pipes and prepared himself for any kind of fight.

"There was a small window that led to the basement. That's where Annabeth's being held," I said and they all shook their heads while walking towards the small window that could slide all three of us. When arriving there, all three of us crouched down and looked inside. The sight in front of us shocked us to the very core.

**Alright, so I know it was a slight cliff hanger but it was the best I could do to get you guys to read the next chapter. So please REVIEW!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

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	7. Just in the nick of time

**Well, here it is. Chapter 6. Hope you guys like it. READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!!**

Chapter 6

Just in the nick of time

**Percy's Point of View**

Annabeth was dangling from a set of chains that cut into her skin, just like in my dream. She was battered and her head was bent, making us unable to see her face. Many cuts and bruised painted her pale skin. She had her back to us, which didn't help us detect the amount of damage. Luckily, there was no one else in the room. But Annabeth was badly hurt; anyone could figure that out from here. And we couldn't see if her chest was rising or not, meaning it was a fifty/fifty chance that she was still alive. Oh gods… please let her be alive.

"Oh gods!" Grover exclaimed but soon lowered his voice, knowing that we could be watched any second.

"Alright, someone help me get this window open," I asked while trying to wrench the window open but it was slightly stuck. Thalia came over shakily and together, we were able to get the window open wide enough for us to go through. I was the first person to go through the window and once inside the cell, I got a good look at Annabeth.

She was badly hurt. Her face was bruised, cut and extremely tired. Sweat poured down her face as she breathed small but painful breaths. The knife that the doctor had pierced Annabeth with was still protruding from her stomach. Blood had dried around the wound, making me unable to asset the full damage. Annabeth's eyes were closed but they didn't seem peaceful. Her legs had been bruised and her clothes were torn. "Oh gods…" I whispered to myself as the others came into the room.

"Percy, get the bandages out of your bag. She needs them now," Thalia ordered and frankly, there was no way to contradict her. She was right. I rummaged through my bag and found some nectar and rolls of Ace bandages—yeah, Camp Half-Blood usually uses human bandages when healing others. Handing over to Thalia, she looked like she was about to cry. "Great, Grover and I will help her. You try to get Annabeth to wake up."

I was already in front of Annabeth when Thalia finished speaking. Cupping my hand gently onto Annabeth's face, I started talking to her slowly and soothingly. "Annabeth, it's me, Seaweed Brain. Can you hear me? Annabeth?" I kept repeating the same questions over and over until she stirred slightly against my touch. "Annabeth? Come on, love. You can do it. Open your eyes. Say something." My words seemed to get through to Annabeth as she tried to open her eyes slightly.

"Percy…?" She whispered painfully. A sigh of relief escaped my throat. Annabeth was still alive, and her glassy eyes were staring right back at me. Pain and sadness enveloped her eyes. A tear ran down her bruised cheek and I smiled at her. "You're here…" Her voice was strained, like it took every ounce of her strength to even let out a breath. Annabeth needed healing _now_.

"Yeah, we're here and we're going to get you out. Here, drink this and you'll feel better," I told her while bringing the canteen of nectar to her lips. Annabeth didn't argue. She knew it was me and no one else that came to save her. So, she started drinking as Thalia came beside me, some tears blurring her vision.

"How are we going to get the restrains off of her? Where's the key?" Thalia whispered while looking away from Annabeth, unable to see her best friend in so much pain. Releasing Riptide, Thalia pondered the thought and shook her head. "Something smaller."

"Like a hairpin or a pocketknife?"

"Yeah. Anyone have one?" All three of us looked at each other as Grover and I shook our heads. Thalia sighed and removed a hairpin from her hair. She uncurled it and handed it to me. "Unlock the shackles while Grover and I'll hold onto Annabeth. She'll be safer that way." I was surprised that she didn't say something sarcastic as usual. But, then again, these weren't normal circumstances.

"But we have to get that knife out of her. She'll suffer even more with it," Grover mentioned and we both nodded. Thalia cupped her hands on Annabeth's face and looked her in the eyes.

"Honey, we're going to have to do something that's going to hurt a lot. Do you think you can hold back the screams?" Thalia didn't mean to hurt Annabeth's feelings or anything when she said it. The fact that Annabeth had been hurt enough was proof that we needed to be even more careful with her now. "I'm really sorry," Thalia whispered to her best friend as a few tears stained Thalia's face.

"I can… do that… Just hurry…" Annabeth whispered painfully as she finished drinking the nectar.

Thalia nodded and looked at me with tear-filled eyes. "When you pull the dagger out, I'll put some bandages on the wound. If we don't, she'll probably bleed to death," Thalia answered and I nodded in understanding. Cupping my hand again on Annabeth's cheek, we didn't need to say anything. She tried to smile at me and nodded slightly, unable to do more because she winced at the pain the movement caused her. "I'll kill Luke…" Thalia muttered to herself as I placed my hand on the hilt of the dagger gently.

"Annabeth, on three, I'm going to pull out the knife. Are you ready?" I asked her, hoping Annabeth understood what I was telling her. Anyone could tell she was on the verge of unconsciousness.

"I trust you Percy…" She whispered and relief washed through me. Annabeth didn't care about the fact that she was in incredible pain. She just wanted to have us near her now. "Do it now…"

"Alright. One, two," I grasped the hilt completely and saw Annabeth wince slightly. "Three!"

And with that, I pulled and Annabeth's face scrunched up in utter pain. She ground her teeth together, threw her head back and shut her eyes closed tightly. Thalia immediately started lifting Annabeth's ruined shirt and wrapped the wound in heavy bandages. Even as Thalia covered the wound, blood still seeped through the bandages. Annabeth had bled enough already. "I'm sorry Annabeth. It's over now," I answered as a few tears slid down her face once more. Annabeth never showed her weakness, not even when she was in pain.

But this was an exception. She'd been hurt physically _and_ emotionally.

I looked at the knife and found a silver dagger with a golden hilt. Wait a second, silver?! It was golden when the doctor plunged it into Annabeth's skin. What… what did that mean?

Placing the dagger in my backpack, a _thud_ was heard from above us. Thalia, Grover and I all looked above before looking at each other. "Percy, unlock the shackles. Grover, hold her arms so they don't fall. This is going to probably hurt her even more," Thalia ordered and we didn't' even bother arguing.

Grover placed his hands carefully on Annabeth's arms, holding her gently not to hurt her. Thalia held onto my best friend's stomach and tried to apply almost no pressure while I picked the locks. Footsteps could be heard from across the hall and I tried to hurry as much as possible. Luckily, it was only one lock that held both of her wrists together. When it clicked open, her bleeding wrists were free and Grover brought her arms down slowly. Thalia lowered Annabeth's close-to-unconsciousness body down on the floor and I hurried to work on unlatching the shackles at Annabeth's feet.

"You're pretty stupid to come here, Percy," A familiar voice answered from behind me. Lifting my head upward as the latch of the lock opened up, I turned around and found Luke standing in the doorway, Backbiter in hand. His grin shined in the dim light as he approached us slowly. "I knew that if we kept Annabeth here long enough, you'd come looking for her."

"You're not getting anywhere near her," I threatened, raising Riptide to prepare myself for battle. Luke laughed a bitter and maniacal laugh as he stood against the wall, looking at us with mockery written all over his face. Somehow, I could feel Thalia's glare behind me. She was really angry.

"Luke…" She almost growled in anger. Did Thalia ever growl? "Why would you do this?"

"Hey, everybody has to have a hobby. In this case, it's to lure Percy to his death," Luke cooed as he swung his sword around. Standing up, I tried to concoct a plan. Maybe if we could find some way to get out of here. Maybe… I got it! The Greek fire! It was the only way we could get out of here safely. Dropping my backpack onto the floor, Thalia looked at it and then to me as she held onto Annabeth's almost unconscious body.

"Well, we'll just see if that'll happen," I answered coldly.

"Well, well, well… Percy Jackson. You decided to come and show your face," A woman's sinister voice answered from the hallway. Turning my head slightly to the left, my eyes detected movement from the shadows and saw that Hecate, the goddess of Magic and Witchcraft, stepped into the room. "It took you longer than I thought to come here."

"Hecate."

"Correct. But I do believe you cannot leave just yet. There is still some… unfinished business to attend to," She mused as Hecate went to stand beside Luke proudly. An evil smirk played across her face as she ran her fingers through her brown, luscious hair. Hecate was the one that tormented Annabeth. She would pay, along with Luke and that doctor, whoever he was.

"You're quite right, Hecate. He can't leave. And along with his friends, he will suffer." And that's when the doctor came in the picture. The man in the military suit walked into the room—you know, if anyone else comes in here, there's not going to be enough space for us to fight (if we had to)—and took a place right beside Luke and Hecate. "So, surrender now Percy Jackson and your friends won't be harmed any further."

With that statement said, I looked over my shoulder and found Thalia looking at me thoughtfully. _WE NEED TO GET OUT_ was written all over her face as she handed Annabeth to Grover and came to stand beside me, Aegis equipped and ready to use. "There's Greek fire in my backpack. We can use it to escape with Annabeth," I whispered to her, barely moving my lips.

She nodded without removing her gaze from the company. Looking over at Grover, my gaze went to my backpack for one second and went back to him. Grover understood immediately and slid his arms under Annabeth before hoisting her gently into his arms. She moaned slightly but stayed motionless. The only sign that showed she was still alive was the slight rise and fall of her chest. Chiron needed to see her right away.

"Dr. Thorn, I suppose we can dispose of the Athena girl now?" Hecate asked with a slight smile.

"Of course. Luke, kill them all," Dr. Thorn answered as he snapped his fingers. Luke seemed hesitant at first but straightened himself and pointed his sword right at us. Thalia pushed Luke's sword out of the way with her spear and moved in front of me.

"Luke, you can always step away from all of this and come back with us," Thalia answered softly, which gave me enough time to get the Greek fire out and use it. Kneeling down, I took the metal bottle containing the Greek fire out and hid it behind my back. "There's always a way out of this," Thalia continued, as if I hadn't done anything. She was quite the actress. Unfortunately, Luke had suspected something.

But… he wasn't doing anything about it.

What was up with him? Wasn't he one of the bad guys?

"I'm sorry Thalia, but it's for the best. Gods need to be rid of," Luke answered as he looked at her. Thalia backed up a bit, bringing me along with her so we could stand beside Grover and Annabeth, but still stared Luke straight in the eyes. The Greek fire was still in my hands, ready to be thrown whenever needed. "NOW!" She screamed and in a second, the Greek fire was out of my hand and thrown at the window we had slid into. When it came in contact with the wall, the metal bottle exploded and the wall was blown to bits, making it a possible escape for us. Ignoring the smoke and the cement flying towards us, we ran to the exit—Grover being careful not to hurt Annabeth any further—and jumped outside.

_Hey Boss! We've gotta go now! They're on your tail!_ Blackjack thought urgently. Looking back, I did see that Dr. Thorn was trying to get out of the house, which had now started to crumble slightly. Luke came out after Dr. Thorn and Hecate came out before the house crumbled completely and turned to dust. Hecate turned towards her house and started shouting and crying. _Wow, she's quite mad,_ Blackjack thought as I climbed onto his back and Grover handed me Annabeth. Porkpie couldn't handle three people on his back. It was way too much.

Cradling Annabeth carefully in my arms, she moaned slightly and lost consciousness in my arms. "Blackjack, can you carry two people?" I asked urgently while positioning Annabeth carefully on Blackjack's back, leaning her head against my shoulder.

_Sure thing. Now, let's get the heck outta here!_ He thought before both Pegasi flew in the air, leaving the three evil doers on the ground. We had escaped safely with Annabeth safely with us.

She whimpered slightly in her sleep and my arm wound around her, holding her safe as we flew through the air at a safe speed.

"You're safe, Annabeth. We're going back to camp. You're safe," I whispered to her through the whole trip. She was safe in my arms.

**Alright, so Percy finally saved Annabeth. But what will happen now? It's not the end. Trust me, there's more to come. MUAHAHAHAHA!!!! So REVIEW for more chapters :P**

**Bellacullenswan17**

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	8. The healer's worries

**Alright so this is a little short chapter but it will help you all feel better :P Read and Review!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 7

The healer's worries

**Chiron's Point of View**

Percy had been gone more than five hours. It worried me. Hecate could be quite angry at times. I just hoped that he could avoid her evil spells. This worried me. The least he could do is Iris-Message the camp if he was successful. But maybe Percy couldn't… Hopefully nothing happened to them.

I was pulled out of my worries when Connor Stoll from the Hermes camp came running into my cabin, panting like a boar. "Connor, what seems to be the problem?" I asked, knowing by his worried face that something was wrong.

"Chiron, you have to come with me. Quick!" His tone was urgent and he panted with every word before he started walking out of the Big House.

"Wait Connor! What's the problem?!" I asked quickly, seeing as he was almost out of the door when I interrupted him. He seemed agitated by my question, but he turned around nonetheless and faced me.

"It's Percy. He's back and Annabeth's with him," Connor answered impatiently. That's all it took for the both of us to run out of the Big House and follow Connor to the top of the hill. Blackjack was clear in sight when we started ascending the hill. When arriving, it shocked me to see some of my best campers in such disarray.

Thalia and Grover were behind Percy, who carried an unconscious battered Annabeth in his arms. He walked towards us carefully, afraid to harm Annabeth any further than she already is. "Chiron, help her. Please," He pleaded me as Percy approached me slowly. Taking my eyes away from Percy, I looked at Annabeth.

She rested her head against Percy's shoulder, obviously at peace now. But she breathed in and out, this only proving that she was still alive. If I hadn't noticed her breathing, then my thoughts would have turned to panic, thinking that she was actually dead. Many cuts and bruises formed her skin and blood seeped from her stomach, probably an open cut.

"Oh dear Gods…" I mumbled to myself as Thalia and Grover came to stand beside Percy and Annabeth. "Come with me. We've got to help her now," I answered and we all walked towards the infirmary.

Clarisse walked by in full body armour and saw me immediately. "Chiron, what's the—Oh Gods! What happened to Annabeth?!" I do believe it was the first time I heard Clarisse La Rue mention Annabeth by her true name, and not some horrible nickname that degraded the daughter of Athena.

"Clarisse, we can't talk right now. But if you want to know what happened to Annabeth, then come with us," I beckoned and she followed without another word.

When we arrived at the infirmary, we came across an empty bed and I told Percy to place Annabeth down. He tried to do it as gently as possible but Annabeth winced in her sleep. She had obviously been through so much in the past few days that everything was coming back now.

"Annabeth, can you hear me?" I asked, hoping not to disturb her too much. She seemed to be having the best sleep she had in a long time.

Annabeth stirred a little and turned her head to the side, obviously hearing my question. "Chiron…?" She asked weakly.

"Yes, it's me. You're safe now. You're at Camp Half-Blood. You're safe," I assured her as she tried to open her eyes, but to no result. She was so weak; it was hard to believe she was still alive.

"Please, you have to help her," Percy begged, taking a seat next to Annabeth and taking her left hand in both of his. There was a strong bond between the two of them; it was easy to see it from anywhere.

Looking over to the trio, I saw that Thalia had a few tears in her eyes as she looked over to her friend. Annabeth and Thalia were so close in history that it was hard to look at her without feeling strong emotions. Grover, on the other hand, was looking from Percy to Annabeth. Again, strong emotions were swirling around him like an aura. Clarisse was pacing all around the infirmary, trying to control herself around everyone. Returning my gaze from the three friends to Annabeth, I saw that Annabeth had returned to a deep slumber. But that slumber could be dangerous for her health.

"I'll do my best. But I need room to work. Percy, you may stay close to Annabeth but I'd like everyone to leave for a little while. I'll tell you when you can come and visit her," I answered and everyone nodded before leaving the room. Thalia and Clarisse were hesitant as they looked at Annabeth one more time and left unwillingly.

Percy never kept his eyes off of Annabeth as I worked on her. She had many broken bones and dozens of cuts emanated from her body. A large knife wound had grown from her side but blood kept seeping out of it, like it would never stop. "This is bad," I murmured to myself while trying to stitch up some of Annabeth's cuts. I had bandaged up her knife wound but blood seemed to keep on soiling the bandage, like it would bleed forever.

"What? What's bad?" Percy asked worriedly while I finished stitching up the rest of her cuts. Cream had been placed on her bruises and tapes had been wrapped around her chest, helping her to breathe—hopefully—regularly and without disability.

"This wound… it just won't stop bleeding. It's very suspicious," I answered truthfully and Percy's expression changed completely. It turned form worry to fear.

"Can't you do anything to stop it?! Nectar? Ambrosia? Anything?" He asked, his tone rising slightly. Percy didn't need to get angry with me. I was doing my best. But I can understand why he would raise his voice at me. It was obvious to see that he liked, maybe even loved this girl lying in the bed that almost died.

"Percy, was there anything out of the ordinary when you found Annabeth?"

He thought about it for a split second and his face lit up with recognition. "Well, I found this knife. It was still in her stomach when we found her." He started digging through his pockets and took out a silver dagger with a golden hilt before handing it to me. "It was gold in my dream."

My eyes went from the dagger to Percy. It was silver now but Percy just mentioned that it was gold before… What did this mean? "I will have to do a little bit more research on this but, for the time being, she'll have to change the bandages often," I answered before finishing bandaging Annabeth up nice and safely. "There, all she needs is rest. If you'd like, you could go tell—"

"No, I'm staying here. I'm not going to let her get hurt again," Percy swore and that was enough to tell me that he would like to be alone with her.

"Alright, I'll leave you two alone," I answered before getting up, placing a blanket over Annabeth before walking away.

While galloping away, I heard something very touching coming from Percy. "Annabeth? Annabeth, can you hear me? You probably can't answer me by now but I just wanted you to know that I'm not going anywhere. You're safe here. I love you Annabeth, stay with me," He told her before I smiled and exited the room.

**Thalia's Point of View**

It was already nightfall and we hadn't heard anything from Chiron or Percy. Already knowing that Annabeth was badly hurt didn't help me relax. I was on edge constantly and Grover had to calm me down a few times. It was quite annoying, if you ask me.

"Oh Gods… if Annabeth isn't alright, then I'll go and kill Luke!" I screamed out loud, pacing back and forth while we waited for some news. Grover had started chewing on cans while we waited and Clarisse had—surprisingly—started pacing as well. Even though she didn't like Annabeth, she had the decency of seeing if she was alright.

"Thalia, calm down. Chiron is doing everything he can," Grover comforted but it didn't help. Nothing did. Annabeth was one of my dearest and oldest friends. She just couldn't die. It wasn't ethical.

"But what if something happens to her Grover? What if she's in an even worse condition than we thought?! Grover, she could—"

"You won't need to finish that sentence, Thalia. Annabeth is going to be fine," Chiron answered, cutting me in mid sentence as he approached us. He seemed tired, almost as if he drained himself just to save Annabeth.

"Is she alright? Can we go see her?" Grover asked as we all joined Chiron and waited for him to speak. He took a deep breath and started to speak again.

"She's resting at the moment but it seemed like she pulled through. Her injuries were severe but you all got to her just in time to save her. I'm surprised she lasted this long without passing. But someone had to stay with her for the night and Percy offered to do it. By tomorrow, you should be able to see her for a certain period of time," He explained and I let go of the breath I had been holding without even knowing it. She was going to be alright. My best friend was going to be alright!

"Thank you," I whispered and the elder just smiled at me.

"You all should get some rest. Annabeth will be alright for the night and you'll be able to see her tomorrow," Chiron assured me before walking towards the Big House so he could get some rest after he worked so hard on my friend. It had been hours that he was healing Annabeth and now, it was time for him to catch up on the restless sleep.

At least Annabeth was going to be alright. She was going to live and be happy with Percy, like it should be.

"I'm so happy that she's alright," I whispered to myself as Grover placed an arm over my shoulder in comfort.

"Me too, Thalia. Me too," Grover replied as we walked back to our cabins. Tonight, I might get some sleep, knowing Annabeth would live to see the next day.

**So what did you think? Will you go like Thalia and sleep well tonight? Ha ha. Just kidding. Now please REVIEW so I can know what you think of this!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

7


	9. Awakening is so hard

**Alright people, so I haven't updated in a long time but here it is! A brand new chapter and it will be exciting!!! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 8

Awakening is so hard

**Percy's Point of View**

Annabeth was sound asleep in a bed in the infirmary, all patched up and healing slowly. She was alright and safe. That's what mattered. Annabeth was always someone who never showed any pain to anyone. But now she was lying in a cot almost bruised to death. What would happen when she would wake up and find out that she showed a little bit of weakness? And I do mean little, since she fought against a Titan and a Goddess.

It had already been about eighteen hours—yeah, that's right, I started counting the hours. How pathetic am I?—that she'd been sleeping and suddenly, she stirred, opened her eyes slowly and found me.

"Hey there Wise Girl," I answered softly while taking hold of one of her hands in both of mine. She was actually awake and staring at me.

"Percy…" She murmured and tried to move but gasped in pain when her stomach started hurting.

"Just stay still. You need to rest and heal. I'm so proud of you…" I whispered to her and she frowned. She knew what I meant and felt ashamed. Suddenly, it was easier to tell her emotions.

"Percy… I'm so sorry…" She whispered, closing her eyes and turning her head so that her face was staring upward. Annabeth looked in such pain. "I should have—"

"Stop that. I don't care about the past. Annabeth, you were great out there. And you're here, which means that you're alive. And that's all that I care about. Annabeth, I… I… I love you!" She turned her head towards me and a tear ran down her bruised cheek. Had I just made her cry? Oh gods… That was the last thing that anyone wanted right now. But Annabeth didn't know that everyone else was waiting just outside of the infirmary, waiting for my call to come in. That would probably cheer her up. "Annabeth… I didn't mean to… It just came out… It's just… I… I understand if you don't feel the same—"

"Percy, I love you too…" She said, her voice just a little bit higher than a whisper. But that was enough to make me smile. Annabeth felt the same way about me. That was perfect. Just knowing that she was in trouble made my heart hurt too much. And seeing her dangling like that was just too painful to see. And to think that it might be my fault. "Look Seaweed Brain… this was my fault… not anyone else's… Don't blame this on anyone but me…" She whispered and closed her eyes slowly. Annabeth needed rest. It showed evidently in her face.

"No, we're not going to blame anyone. Let's just put this behind us and think about the future," I answered, taking a hold of her hand and lifting the blanket to her chin so Annabeth wouldn't be cold. "Just try focusing on healing. And everyone is waiting to see you."

Her eyes lit up in shock and met mine directly. "They're here…?" She asked weakly, exhaustion filling her features. Annabeth needed more rest. She had been through so much now and her body was probably catching up with everything. Turning her head so that it was facing upwards, Annabeth closed her eyes and said: "They shouldn't see me like this… so weak…"

"They don't care how you look Annabeth. Everyone's just so glad that you're alive that they don't care if you're bruised and a little beat up," I tried to tell her. A slight smile appeared on her face, which meant that she would like to see them. Looking towards the entrance to the infirmary, Thalia and Grover were standing there, waiting for my signal.

Beckoning them to come in, they walked in slowly and poked their heads to see Annabeth looking at them with a smile. "Hi guys…" Annabeth mumbled, which only made Thalia gush in happiness before running up to Annabeth, kneeling down and hugging her best friend.

"You had me so scared! I thought… the way you were dangling… Annabeth, don't do that to me ever again!" Thalia scorned as she balled onto her friend. With some of the strength Annabeth had, she enticed her arm around Thalia's shoulders comfortingly and rubbed soothing circles on Thalia's back. "Please…"

"I'm so sorry… I didn't think Luke would do such a thing…" Annabeth said as a stray tear fell from her face. Annabeth Chase, the girl who never showed any weakness whatsoever, was showing some emotion at the moment. Whatever had happened back in that cabin had changed Annabeth. Maybe not a lot, but enough for her to demonstrate how weak she was at the moment. Grover placed a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and a stray tear fell from his eye. He was just as protective over Annabeth as the rest of us.

"The main thing is that you're safe, Annabeth," Grover insisted with a slight smile. Annabeth looked up to meet his face and tried to smile but ended up wincing in the process.

"Let's let Annabeth sleep. She's had a rough few days," I mentioned and everyone nodded before giving Annabeth one last hug or a kiss on the forehead and left right after.

Just as I was about to leave with the rest of the gang—and it pained me to do so—Annabeth reached out slowly but painfully to grab my wrist and it stopped me in my tracks. "Please don't go… I hate to admit this but… the nightmares will come back," She almost whispered and a smile came upon my face. Annabeth wanted me to stay and be close to her.

Sitting back down, her hand came loose from around my wrist and Annabeth's eyes started to close. "I'll stay right here Annabeth. I'm not going anywhere. Just think about resting for now, alright?" I asked, cupping her cheek with my hand and she smiled happily.

"Thanks again Seaweed Brain… for saving me…" Annabeth whispered before she fell asleep instantaneously. Frankly, she looked horrible. There were large purple bags under her eyes, indicating her lack of sleep. Her gauze had started to turn red, indicating that the blood had started to pour from her wounds. Poor girl… she'd been through so much that it was hard to believe she was still here with us. And I was going to keep her safe from anyone else.

* * *

It had been a few days that Annabeth was on the mend but she still seemed a little weak. After the first week, she was able to be released from the infirmary but still couldn't do any of the normal activities. Annabeth really hated the fact that she wasn't able to train and be like the other campers but, with my help, she was able to put that thought aside. Still, it bothered me that, in her eyes, Annabeth was feeling ashamed and weak.

One afternoon, about a few days after her release, I'd been trying to find Annabeth all over the campus grounds. I'd asked so many campers but they'd told me that they hadn't seen her all day. Ugh… where could she have gone?

Just as I was turning the corner of the Big House, someone bumped into me, making me fall flat on my butt. Great… This seemed to be one of those cases of déjà-vu all over again. Clarisse glared at me angrily but her mood lightened slightly. Wow… Talk about an improvement much? "Um… hi Clarisse," I said while getting up slowly. She just looked at me but… she seemed a little sad. "What's the matter?"

"Have you been trying to find Annabeth?" For once, Clarisse didn't scold or talk back to me. And she actually used Annabeth's full name, again. Had something changed in Clarisse since we brought Annabeth back to camp? Hopefully yes. It was hard sometimes to deal with this girl.

"Yeah, why? Have you seen her?"

She sighed and walked past me. "Maybe you can knock some sense into her. She's in the gym, training." My mouth literally fell open at the mention of the word 'training'. Why in the world was she training?! Annabeth was still recovering from her kidnapping.

"Thanks," I muttered before running off towards the gym. When arriving there, the first thing I saw was Annabeth working hard and didn't seem to stop. Sweat poured down her forehead, her face scrunched up in pain and exhaustion. I saw that one of her hands was hovering above her stomach. That wound was still hurting her and it didn't seem to close. She was in pain but would never admit it. With her dagger, she kept slashing at the dummy in different directions.

"Annabeth! What are you _doing_? You're supposed to be on bed rest from training!" I practically screamed at her to stop. Luckily, she looked at me for one moment and seemed utterly confused.

"Percy, I can't stop. I need to get stronger," She said before returning to her training. Somehow, her forehead creased and I had a bad feeling creep up.

"Annabeth, you need to stop. You're just going to hurt yourself," I tried to say but she didn't listen. Walking slowly towards her, she didn't seem to notice my presence. "Annabeth, please stop. Your wounds are going to open up, and that's not going to help anyone if that happens. Please Annabeth, just put the dagger down," I pleaded. She stopped momentarily, looked at me and for the first time, I noticed that she was breathing heavily. I mean, sure she was training just moments ago, but her breathing worried me. It was ragged and shallow. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… why do you ask…?" She asked between ragged breaths.

I approached her slowly and she just kept on staring at me, confused. "How's your stomach?" I asked once arriving in front of her.

Annabeth shrugged and looked me straight in the eyes. "It's fine," She lied.

"You know, you have a wonderful poker face. Too bad I can read through it." Annabeth scolded my remark and looked away, her breaths still coming in little pants. "How are you feeling? Really feeling?"

It took her a few seconds to answer but Annabeth sighed but still looked away. "It really hurts and I'm a little woozy but I just have to endure it," She answered hesitantly. Annabeth was never one to admit if she was hurt or not; always trying to hide her pain from everyone. Too bad she couldn't fool me.

"Annabeth, you need to take a break. It's not healthy for you to—"

"Percy, he's still out there. And he wants to destroy the Gods! And I'm not going to stop until—"

"First you need your rest. It's not going to help anyone if you go out to battle with horrible injures," I told her but she just continued to look away from me.

Annabeth placed a hand to her forehead, closed her eyes and mumbled: "It's not that horrible." She looked so tired. It seemed that today was wearing her out. She seemed to be getting better but now, today of all days, Annabeth looked _worse_ than before. And that had me worried.

"Annabeth, are you okay? You look—"

"I'm fine Percy!" She nearly shouted in my face. Annabeth kept her eyes closed and took deep breaths, trying to center herself once more.

"No, you're not. Let me help you Annabeth. Come on, let's get you back to your cabin. You'll—"

"Percy, I'm fine… I'll just spend another—" Annabeth was interrupted when she swayed a little and fell towards me, face first. I caught her before she could hit the floor but she didn't seem conscious.

"Annabeth? Annabeth, can you hear me?!" This seemed to be a sense of déjà-vu—once again—of a few days ago, when we found Annabeth just dangling in that basement, barely conscious. I placed my hand on her forehead and it was literally on fire. "Annabeth, you have a horrible fever."

"Percy… what's happening to me…?" She mumbled before slumping into my body, making me fall on my butt, cradling her to my chest. Annabeth was breathing heavily and sweat was pouring down her forehead.

She was really worrying me now. Obviously something was wrong with her. "Come on Annabeth, stay with me. Help! Someone help her! Something's wrong with Annabeth!" I shouted and a few people ran in the gym, helping me bring Annabeth to the infirmary once more. This never seemed to end. What did they do to her?

**OH NO!!! what happened to Annabeth? Is she going to be alright?! REVIEW TO FIND OUT!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

8


	10. Another drastic problem

**Alright so this is a short chapter but now, I have a feeling that I might have to hide in a cave to avoid the horrible crowd of fire and pitchforks. You will all probably hate me for putting this short and a LARGE cliffhanger but it had to be done. So READ AND REVIEW!!!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!!!**

Chapter 9

Another drastic problem

**Percy's Point of View**

We'd brought Annabeth straight to the infirmary and laid her down on the bed. The problem was that she was still sweating like mad and her breathing was getting worse. Her skin had started to turn pale and her eyes were still closed. Connor and Travis had come into the infirmary with me. I'd first noticed them when they sat beside the bed as well.

"Did someone get Chiron?" I asked, taking a hold of Annabeth's hand, which had started to clam up. She hadn't woken up since she fell in my arms in the gym. What was attacking her? At first, she had felt just fine when Annabeth left the infirmary. Now, about a week later, she just falls. It's not normal. No one answered me and I looked at Connor. Apparently, he had nodded to me but I was too busy worrying about the girl lying in the cot once more. Man… Annabeth's not lucky these days.

"She'll be alright man, she always is," Connor told me reassuringly as Grover and Thalia came in the infirmary, running for their lives.

"What happened?" Thalia asked worriedly as she grabbed a chair and slid it beside the bed.

"I… I don't know. I found her in the gym working and I tried to get her to stop. We had a little fight and then, she just… collapsed. I… I don't know what happened exactly. But something's wrong with her. I'm sure of it," I answered sadly while rubbing Annabeth's hand with my thumb.

"Man… what do you think happened to her?" Grover asked sadly from behind me.

"I don't know…" I whispered, barely anyone could have heard that. Suddenly, Annabeth started to open her eyes and tried to find us. Once again, her vision wasn't the clearest but she managed to make out a few shapes.

"Percy…? Thalia…? What… what's happening to me…?" She asked us. Her voice sounded so weak. It pained me to hear her like this, so weak and fragile. It was just another reminder of the cabin and Annabeth dangling from the chains, barely alive.

"I… I don't know honey but you'll be just fine. I promise," I assured her while placing a hand to her face, which had started to rise again. It seemed like her temperature might spike through the roof. "Guys, where's Chiron?!" I asked frantically. Chiron sure was taking his time right now!

"I'm right here, Percy," Chiron mentioned as he entered the infirmary. "Make way please," He mentioned while passing through the campers in his wheelchair form. Chiron rolled over to the bed and Thalia, Grover and I moved over to the side. I saw him place a hand on Annabeth's face and removed it just as quickly. "She has a horrible fever. Someone get me a towel," Chiron ordered and I heard Grover leave the room. Chiron lifted Annabeth's shirt slightly and saw that the gauze was now tainted red and slightly yellow. What did that mean?

"Chiron, what's wrong with her?" I asked, hoping to break this silence. He'd just looked at the gauze for so long that it was worrying me now. Chiron's eyes suddenly widened because of something and that scared me. What was he thinking? Did it have to do with that knife we had found in Annabeth a few days ago? "Chiron, what's the matter with her?" I asked him again. The silence was killing me just as Grover gave Chiron the towel.

Chiron took a long time to say something but he placed the cold cloth on Annabeth's burning forehead, closed his eyes and kept his back to us. Chiron finally turned his head, kept his eyes closed and said: "I need to speak to Percy, alone." This had everyone confused, and frankly, my mind was going into overdrive. Why did he want to speak with me? And why alone? Was Annabeth's condition much worse than we thought it would be? Is that why he wanted to talk to me alone? To tell me she would die? No… I couldn't think like that. There had to be something we could do for her.

"Chiron, what's—" Thalia tried to speak but Chiron raised his hand, interrupting her immediately.

"It's quite important that I speak with Percy alone. Please," Chiron pleaded. It was as if it took everything in him to speak out loud to everyone. Thalia and Grover looked at me for an answer and, unfortunately, I had to tell them something.

"Guys, it's alright. I'll tell you guys afterwards." They both nodded unwillingly and left sadly with Connor and Travis, leaving me alone with Chiron and Annabeth.

He looked at me first, then to Annabeth and said with a broken voice: "Take a seat, Percy." Hesitantly, I took a seat beside Annabeth's head and I took her hand in both of mine. Annabeth's glassy eyes met mine and I just smiled at her reassuringly, not knowing what would happen to her now. "Percy," Chiron's voice brought me to look at him, "do you know what this dagger is?" He asked me, raising the dagger I had given him the moment we came back to camp with Annabeth. I shook my head and he closed his eyes. "It's a magical dagger created by Hephaestus. It was supposed to be a weapon for battle. All the enemies that would gaze at this weapon would instantly fear the holder. It's a weapon that creates fear inside the enemies."

"But what does this have to do with Annabeth?" I asked him worriedly. He was just telling me about this useless dagger and now, I was getting frustrated.

"Percy, this weapon was supposed to be extinct. Hephaestus kept it hidden from anyone."

"But Luke found it. And that doctor guy used it on Annabeth!" I practically shouted. Chiron wasn't surprised.

"Percy, listen to me. I've done some research on this weapon and it contains small mechanical prototypes that attach itself to the bloodstream. It's a very dangerous weapon that takes time to work," He informed me and frankly, my look of confusion must have pressed him on. He sighed and said: "The reason why the dagger is now silver is that those prototypes are now inside Annabeth and they're attacking her immune system. She was poisoned. And if we don't get the antidote in time, she will die."

**Alright, so I will hide in my cave now and write a little more. Please don't try to kill me before the end of this story. And I'm now going to update more often (although probably not this weekend because I will not have any internet but I will try) so please REVIEW!!!!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

5


	11. How can this get any worse?

**I'M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING AS QUICKLY! I WAS TRYING TO FINISH **_**BATTERED**_** and it worked. I finally finished it (people have been telling me it's a good story so when you guys have time go right ahead and read it:)). So now, I'm going to be finishing the other stories and have them updated as fast as possible, which will be pretty hard since I have exams coming up in only a few days. So, I'll try my best! BUT PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!**

Chapter 10

How can this get any worse?

**Percy's Point of View**

"Wh… What?" I stuttered, unable to think of anything else. This couldn't be happening. It… it just couldn't! This is probably just a huge nightmare. I'd wake up and find Annabeth in her cabin, reading one of her fancy books like she sometimes does.

"I'm afraid the cards have been dealt. That 'doctor' knew what this blade does. And it's putting us to a disadvantage." Chiron pretty much talked to himself. My mind did not comprehend any of this right. That… that _Luke_! He knew all along what was Annabeth's fate and he still acted this way! Next time I would see him, I'd kill him for sure! No regrets!

"How long?" I asked, obviously interrupting his explanation. He looked at me confusingly and I just rephrased my question. "How long does she have left?" I took a quick glance at Annabeth and saw that she had closed her eyes and was breathing heavily, sweat still pouring down her face. She looked horribly weak, but Annabeth still held onto my hand strongly.

Chiron looked at Annabeth and placed a hand on her arm reassuringly. He sighed deeply and said: "With the damage already done, I believe she has about a week before she passes." My mouth literally fell. A _week_? That hardly gave me any time to find an antidote, much less get there. But this was Annabeth we were talking about. She _had_ to live. We couldn't live without her. _I_ couldn't live without her. I was going to do anything to make her well again.

"Alright, what do I do?" I asked, shaking my head back and forth while holding Annabeth's hand. It was starting to clam with sweat. Looking at Annabeth, I saw that her eyes were closed and her breathing was now laboured. Poor Annabeth… She's so strong. It must be hurting her so much. The poison was working its way in her blood stream and we were just sitting here. "I'll do anything for her."

"You're going to have to travel far and wide to retrieve this antidote. I'll try to help you as much as possible but it's going to be hard. There are going to be many traps and problems along the way but…" Chiron took one glance at Annabeth before resting his tired eyes on me, "you have a motive."

"Just give me the directions and what I'm going to need," I answered, placing a hand on Annabeth's cheek and waiting for her to respond. She didn't. Placing my head closer to hers, I saw that her eyes opened slightly and found me. "Annabeth, I'm going to help you alright? You just hang in there until I get back," I whispered to her, hoping that she could understand what I was telling her. She must be so exhausted and in pain… I can't even begin to think about it. Sure, I was love struck but at least it was a good thing.

"It hurts Percy…" She whispered. If I hadn't been so close to her, I wouldn't have heard what she said. "Please hurry…"

"I will. You can count on me," I whispered before squeezing her hand and standing up, taking one good look at her before walking away with Chiron. I was going to find an antidote even if it killed me.

**Thalia's Point of View**

"How long could it take to figure out what's wrong with her?"

"Thalia, they're doing everything that they can," Grover said as I kept on pacing and he munched on a few cans nervously. It had already been an hour and Percy still didn't come out of the infirmary. Annabeth didn't look good. "She's going to be alright. You know how Annabeth is. She never gives up."

Stopping, I looked at Grover and pretty much scolded him. "Yeah but was happens if she does? Grover, ever since we rescued her from Hecate, she's been looking worse and worse _each day_! I'm really worried. And I'm going to kill Luke…" I mumbled while continuing with my pacing. God… if _anything_ happened to my best friend, I'd kill anyone in my way!

Just as my rage consumed me, Percy came out of the infirmary, looking glum and scared. I stopped my pacing and looked at him, my anger subsiding for the moment. His face worried me. It was too stern and upset. Oh no…

"Percy, how is she?" Grover asked, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"We need to pack. Now," was his only answer. Percy walked away and towards the Poseidon cabin.

"Are you going to answer us or just walk away like that? Percy, we _need_ to know! What's going on?" I screamed at him while walking with him. His face didn't move. It was set in a strait line and wouldn't budge. It was as if he was keeping everything from us. "Percy, for the Gods' sake, _answer me_!"

He stopped, looked at me and I noticed that his face was no longer serious but angry with sadness and rage. "If we keep on talking right now, we're not going to have enough time to save Annabeth! Don't you get it? She's _dying_!" A gasp escaped my lips and my hand flew to my mouth.

"How long does she have, man?" Grover asked, unable to do anymore than just stare at the both of us. His hand had balled into a fist and closed around the can, wrecking it pretty darn well.

"A week," Percy said sternly, looking at his friend in sadness. A _week_? That was hardly enough time to help her. "That's what Chiron says. He told me how to get it and where the antidote is but it's going to be hard."

"We're coming with you," I said, not hesitant in the least. Percy nodded once and walked once more to his cabin.

"Start packing all of the weapons that will fit with you. Of what Chiron says, the journey to the antidote is extremely dangerous and it's going to be tough. I really don't want to drag you guys with me but—"

"I don't care if you don't want us to come with you. She's my best friend and I will _not_ let her die! Now get a move on. We don't have much time," I said while running off to my own cabin. No way was Annabeth going to die. Not under my watch.

**Chiron's Point of View**

This couldn't be happening. Annabeth was so strong and full of life. How could she have so much bad luck? Looking back at the young camper, she was breathing heavily and sweat ran down her forehead. Her sleep was uneasy. I wheeled myself out of the infirmary and towards the fields. The sky seemed so peaceful and serene. Why couldn't Annabeth find such piece for once? In these past few days, it has been so hard on her. Who knows what she must be feeling at this moment…

_Percy must find the antidote in time_, I thought to myself while breathing the cool fresh air once and returning to Annabeth's bedside, trying to help her through this. There would be someone with her at all times. I will make sure that she is not alone.

**Percy's Point of View**

We had little time and didn't know exactly where to go. Chiron told us to go south and try to find 'The street with no name'. That was our first clue. Other Gods would try to help us as much as possible but it would be a challenge. After all, Gods weren't supposed to help mere half-bloods.

"Alright everyone," I said while looking at my companions. Grover and Thalia were ready and in battle armour. They weren't taking any chances with this mission. Technically, the Prophecy was coming true. We were going to travel far and wide for the cure at last. Hopefully, it would help Annabeth as much as possible… "Let's do this."

"Right!" Both friends said at once and we ran off.

_I'll find the antidote, Annabeth. I promise._

**Alright, I hope you guys haven't given up on me. I know this chapter was quite short but I'll give you guys longer ones soon (once exams will be done). So please REVIEW! I don't want you guys to give up on me. Please…**

**Bellacullenswan17**

6


	12. I wasn't expecting that

**Alright everyone, so I know that I haven't updated in a while and I apologize for that. It's been hard for me with the move and seeing Eclipse (that'll be stuck in my head for a while) and the fact that I don't have the books with me to look them over for information is hard. If there's anything wrong with this chapter, then tell me when you guys READ AND REVIEW! PS: Thanks to ****littlemisspink951**** to get me back in this. Thanks so much!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!**

Chapter 11

I wasn't expecting that

**Percy's Point of View**

We've been running for what seemed like hours. But no one would stop, not for Annabeth. How could we stop, knowing that Annabeth had hardly any time left to live? Even though we were all exhausted and needed rest, no one stopped. "Percy, at some time, we need to stop. Annabeth's not going to get any better if we push ourselves," Grover had said once night had fallen and we were in a strange forest. My mind was telling me to continue but my heart said otherwise. It was telling me to stop, stop, STOP!

"Grover's right, Percy. We don't know what's ahead of us and we need to be in the best shape possible," Thalia answered, her eyes filled with exhaustion and determination. We had been at it for hours, just walking around and trying to find 'the city with no name'. Frankly, with not many leads, it was quite the challenge.

Looking at both of my friends, it appeared that we all needed to rest. Sighing, I stopped walking and looked at both of them. "Alright, we'll stop for today. But we need to rest in shifts. Who knows what's lurking out there..." I said as they both nodded and sat down on the mossy ground. The rustle of the leaves and the hooting of the owls just made the forest seemed mischievous. "I'll go first."

"You sure man?" Grover asked. Thalia seemed concerned about my staying up to guard them but seemed unable to argue. She was just too tired, like all of us.

"Yeah, I probably won't be able to sleep anyways. I'll just take the first shift and Thalia? You can take the next one, right?"

"Sure thing," Thalia answered before walking towards the nearby tree and started collecting a few branches. Grover followed her actions and started gathering firewood to create a large enough fire for all three of us. After a few minutes, the two finally got to sleep and I watched over them, reliving the last few hours in my mind. How could Annabeth have not told me what was going on? I knew she liked to keep her pain a secret but not to this extent. The way her forehead beaded with sweat at the effort of fighting to stay alive, her heavy breathing and her strength frightened me to a whole new extent. My poor Annabeth... She truly was a fighter.

Just as I watched the fire cackle, a large rustling in the nearby bushes made me look up and my body became rigid. What would pop out at us at such a time? The others never woke up at the sound, which worked with me. They should have their rest. Getting up from my sitting position, grabbed my pen from my pocket, uncapped Riptide and advanced slowly towards the moving bush. This was exactly like an old horror movie when the bushes rustle and a serial killer jumps up at you to kill you. But this time, the killer wouldn't kill me. _I'd_ kill _it._

Approaching the bushes slowly but carefully, the rustling became louder and louder with each passing second. Raising Riptide, something popped out of the shrub but all I thought that it was an attacker. I brought down Riptide onto the intruder but it was easily blocked. Looking down at the intruder, my mouth literally fell open.

"Clarisse?" She looked up to meet my eyes and her expression darkened.

"Yes, it's me, Seaweed Brain." My anger boiled over when she used Annabeth's nickname for me. Of course, she saw my change of features and her expression changed. "Sorry Jackson," She apologized and walked over to me.

"Clarisse, what are you _doing_ here?" I asked once again, emphasizing every word. She walked over to the fire and sat down, waking everyone up at the same time.

"Percy, what is—" Thalia started asking but was interrupted when she saw Clarisse. Thalia's expression darkened and her face showed anger. "What are _you_ doing here?" Thalia asked with as much venom as possible embedded in her words.

"Well, hello to you too Thalia. Nice to know we're still on good terms," Clarisse replied sarcastically as she looked at the fire crackling before her eyes. I didn't like the idea that Clarisse had come but what could I do? It's Clarisse for the Gods' sake. No one could boss her around.

"Did you follow us?" Thalia asked, her voice rising with anger. It was extremely frightening to see her this mad, especially when Clarisse was here. Both of them could pummel me into grits when they're this mad.

"So what if I did? You gonna make me leave?" Clarisse asked while standing up and walking up to Thalia. Both of them were having a stare-off contest. This wasn't going very well... Grover just stood there, looking at both of them, then at me. His eyes practically screamed _LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!_ Frankly, I wanted to do the same but it was dangerous. Thalia and Clarisse's eyes were almost burning with fiery rage. "I doubt you could do that," Clarisse retorted with a slight grin on that angry face of hers.

"Don't tempt me, La Rue," Thalia replied, inching forward just enough for their noses to practically touch. The air was heating up with the intensity of their stares.

Suddenly, my vision changed and it wasn't Thalia staring Clarisse down. It was Annabeth. Her glassy eyes stared Clarisse down and, even though there was a height difference, Annabeth was one heck of a fighter. But something changed. Her face was beaded with sweat and her stomach seemed to be bleeding. Annabeth turned to face me and something changed once again. Her eyes didn't hold fear, they were in pain and held weakness. "_Percy... help me..._" She whispered before Annabeth disappeared and was replaced by Thalia. Annabeth hardly had enough time left.

They needed to stop this bickering _now_.

"Stop this!" I shouted at them and tried to get in the middle of their stare fest—trust me, it wasn't the smartest idea at a time like this. Even though I had entered their vision point, Thalia and Clarisse would not look at me. "Guys, this is not the time to fight! Annabeth doesn't have much time left and you guys are _fighting_?" At the mention of Annabeth, both girls looked at me and their eyes saddened deeply. "If you want to fight, then do it _after_ we've saved Annabeth. But now, she needs us to be in top shape." They both knew that Annabeth was first priority. Annabeth wasn't just a friend but a sister to most.

Both of them looked at one another for one second and they both sighed at the same time, creeping me out completely. It was bad already when they were both angry at one another but when they followed each other's actions to perfection; now _that_ was scary. "Fine," Thalia answered as she crossed her arms in defeat. She was never one to give up, even in a small fight like this.

"Whatever," Clarisse retorted angrily.

"Alright, so let's get some rest. I'll take first shift while you guys sleep," I answered but no one seemed to answer. Were they trying to ignore me and do their own way or were they going to do as I said? I hope it would be that second option...

"Um... guys?" We all turned around to see Grover looking at the dark forest. "I don't think that we're going to get any sleep right now," Grover said as a few monsters came out of the trees. Suddenly, we came face to face with three hellhounds and a fury. This wasn't our week...

"Guys, get ready!" I yelled at them but they had already gotten out their weapons and shields. The demons approached us and soon, we attacked. The Fury went down easily but the hellhounds were another problem. If there was just one, it would have been an easier fight but now, there were three. Grover and Thalia were attacking one as Clarisse and I each had to face a hellhound on our own. As the hellhound tried to claw and bite me, a thought came to mind. Annabeth's invisibility cap. I still had it in my pocket. Using it in battle might be handy...

Grabbing the hat from my backpack, I put it on and in mere minutes, my whole body was invisible. The hellhound looked around and tried to find me but with no luck. Jumping on its back, the hellhound tried to shake me off but I held on tightly. This brought back the memory of the hellhound that attacked us on the first day of the quest. Annabeth had done the same thing as I had: jumped on its back and tried to kill it. And she had succeeded.

This time, no one will get hurt because of these damn dogs!

Lifting Riptide in the air, I brought it down in the middle of its neck and he whimpered in pain before disappearing in a puff of black smoke. Looking around, I could see that Thalia and Grover were dealing with their hellhounds easily as Clarisse had a little bit of trouble with hers. The hellhound clawed at Clarisse as she laid on the floor and swung at it with precision. She had gotten a few good shots at it but she couldn't do anything else. There were trees all around her and the hellhound was looming over her, its teeth sharp and its claws inches away from Clarisse.

_She'll probably kill me for this afterwards,_ I thought while sighing. Running up to the hellhound, I jumped on its back and brought my sword deep within his neck in a matter of seconds, killing it instantly. Thalia and Grover disposed of theirs as Clarisse stared at me angrily but also graciously. "I had a handle on it, Jackson!" Clarisse screamed at me, still sitting there while she looked at me. Thalia and Grover walked over to us and wondered what all the commotion was.

"Don't be so proud," I said while extending my hand, hoping she would take it. Clarisse looked at it for a few minutes before taking my hand and lifting herself up. Wow... This was a step up for her. This might actually turn out to be a memorable moment for everyone.

Unfortunately, she pulled my arm towards her and whispered in my ear: "Next time you come between me and a hellhound, you're going to go up in black smoke like the dogs," before releasing me and walking up to Thalia and Grover. Well, so much for the beautiful moment... _It was good while it lasted_, I thought while walking towards my friends.

"Anyone hurt?" I asked while looking them over carefully.

"Nope, not even a scratch," Thalia said and Grover just shook his head. He never did like going off to battle. Grover'd rather be on the sidelines eating metal cans and playing his music. "What was up with Clarisse? She actually took your hand."

"Yeah, then nearly bit my head off because of it." Turning to Clarisse, I asked: "So, what are you going to do now? You obviously have to go back to camp."

"Who says I'm going back?" Great... she was going to make this difficult. How were we going to get her to go back to camp where it was safe? "You obviously need me on this quest and Annabeth's not going to get better if we just stand around here and argue about this. So, just shut up and don't argue," She mentioned before sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree. Thalia's hands bawled into fists as she wanted to rip Clarisse's head off. No one could speak to her like that, let alone get away with it. Grover seemed quite scared of Clarisse. Well, who wasn't?

For me, my head said that Clarisse _had_ to go back to camp. But just as I looked at Clarisse, something happened to my vision once more. A weak and battered Annabeth who lay against the trunk of the tree and her eyes closed, replaced Clarisse. This made me realize something: I was seeing the same Annabeth from the infirmary. Annabeth's head turned towards me and her glassy eyes stared at me with pain. "_Percy... hurry..._" She whispered and disappeared just as quickly. Clarisse was now looking at me confused and slightly irritated.

"What are you looking at, Jackson? Got a problem?" She asked rudely. Shaking my head to try and remove the image of the battered girl that I love out of my head, I walked over to the fire and sat down opposite of Clarisse.

I knew this decision would kill me and others but it had to be done. Sighing, six words escaped my lips: "Fine, you can come with us." A gasp was heard from behind me.

"Percy, you _can't_ be serious!" Thalia practically screeched at me. Grover, once again, stood speechless. But he was a smart man. No one would go up against these two women.

"What other options do we have?" I asked while turning towards my two friends. Unfortunately, Clarisse had a large grin on her face. She wanted this to happen. She wanted to be the hero as well. "We need all the strength we can get and she's got it. It'll just make our job easier." Thalia didn't seem to budge and I sighed once again. "Thalia, I hate to admit this but she has strength that can help us get through the challenges ahead," I replied and she seemed to just give up for the night, hoping that this nightmare would end soon. But it wouldn't. Not until Annabeth was alright once again.

Not until Annabeth was in my arms, safe from any dangers ahead.

"Whatever. I'm going to bed," Thalia responded grumpily as she lied down on the floor and closed her eyes, never looking at Clarisse. No one was happy about this but it had to be done. Clarisse was strong. She could help us immensely. And she'll help us face whatever is ahead.

Everyone went to bed without another word. I, on the other hand, stayed up ad watched the fire cackle. Annabeth never left my mind. I saw her in the fire, Annabeth's smiling face and her blond flowing hair that shined in the sunlight. Oh my gods... that girl was unbelievable. And she would be cured, even if it would kill me.

**So, did you guys like it? Was it good? Not good? What did you think about Clarisse? Would you guys have wanted her NOT to be in this chapter? And will you think that Annabeth will survive? Tell me all of this in REVIEWS!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

9


	13. The street with no name

**Alright I know that it took me a while to finish this chapter but I finally finished it cause I finished my two other stories. Now, it's a little short but it's still a chapter. So please READ AND REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!**

Chapter 12

The street with no name

**Percy's Point of View**

We'd been walking for what seemed like hours, although it had only been a few minutes. The dark trees towered above us, blocking the only path of sunlight there was. The others seemed to get agitated with every minute passing. Thalia took out Aegis and began twirling her weapon in her hand, Grover had begun munching on soda cans and Clarisse just kept on walking. She seemed like the only one who wasn't on edge. I, on the other hand, was worried tremendously.

The fact that Annabeth was lying in bed right now, sweating and slowly seeping away while I wasn't around her was eating at me. I should be there by her side. But, even though it _killed_ me to be away from her at this very moment, it was better to get an antidote than to leave her to die.

"Percy, do you know exactly where we're going?" Thalia asked after a few minutes. It seemed as though we were walking around in circles. Looking around, we were standing in the middle of a dark clearing.

"I know where we're going Thalia. This place is different," I said, looking around the clearing.

"Oh really? Then why is there a circle of burnt wood like the one we used last night?" She asked and, for once, I had to admit she was right. Down close to my feet was the circle of burnt wood we had used to keep warm. "Percy, where exactly are we supposed to go?"

"I'm trying to follow Chiron's clue."

"You never told us what that was. Mind filling us in now that we're going around in circles?"

Turning around, I caved in and sighed. "Before we left, Chiron told me to look for 'the street with no name'. That would lead us to something else, probably another clue," I informed them, my forehead creasing as my mind tried to go through the streets that held no name. But that could lead us anywhere!

"Oh great, we're looking for a street with no name… Might as well go on Google and try to look through all the streets in the _world_ for a street with no name!" Clarisse said with slight sarcasm and anger. She wasn't the kind of person who had much patience in these kinds of matters. "I think Chiron must have hit his head too many times while training you brats."

"Hey, you're a brat too Clarisse," Grover snapped while chewing on one of his metal cans.

"Oh, you wanna go there goat man?" Clarisse exclaimed, towering over Grover. He straightened up and seemed to meet her eyes dead on. But, you could see in his features that he didn't want to fight right now.

"Guys!" Stepping in-between the two, I looked at Clarisse most of all, knowing she was the one that needed to calm down right now. "Clarisse, this isn't helping. We need to figure out where to go and we can't start fighting with one another!"

Clarisse seemed to growl at me but Thalia's words made her stop all angry actions. "Percy's right. Annabeth needs us right now and we can't start fighting with each other," Thalia said with a slight melancholic tone. Clarisse looked at Thalia before sighing and shaking her head.

"Whatever… So how are we gonna figure out that first line? What does 'the street with no name' mean?" She asked somewhat calmly… Well, calmly for her anyways. There was still a hint of anger in her voice but no one really paid attention to it. "Does this mean we have to look for street names? That could take us days."

"But Chiron wouldn't have told us to look for that when he knew we were on a time limit. There must be something behind this," I said, looking at everyone but it seemed as though Grover was deeply thinking. It got me wondering… "Do you got something Grover?"

"Well… I remember this old movie that Travis and Connor made me watch a few years ago. It was this police movie. Oh what was the name of it…?" Grover nearly seemed to be talking to himself there. Was he onto something? His head turned and he looked at Thalia and Clarisse. "You guys remember that movie night we had and Clarisse decided to crash it up but ended up staying the night watching the thing because there was violence?"

Clarisse rolled her eyes while Thalia seemed to know what Grover was saying. "Oh yeah, it was that black and white movie. Yeah, I know what you're talking about…" She began thinking and suddenly, both of their faces lit up.

"_The street with no name_!" They both said in unison, pointing to one another.

"Wait a second, there's actually a movie called _The street with no name_?" I asked curiously. Where was I when they watched that movie? Probably living with my mom at the time.

"Yeah, it's a black and white police movie in the late 1940s. Of what I can remember Connor telling us, there was a high number of crimes or something like that in that district so they made a movie about that," Thalia described and seemed deep in thought.

"Alright, what else did Connor tell you guys?"

"He also said something about where they filmed it… Who knew that guy was into such old movies," Grover said, thinking as well.

"Alright dweebs, think. What did that idiot tell you guys?" Clarisse asked rudely. Although everyone understood that she was trying to help, Clarisse sure was making it hard for anyone to appreciate her help.

Thalia glared at her for a few seconds before looking back at me. "Well, he said something about it being somewhere like…. Oh dear gods! Grover? What was that place?" She looked at him and he was tapping his temple with his finger, thinking.

Suddenly, his face lit up once more and he looked from Thalia to me, then said: "Center City, Pennsylvania."

We all looked from one to another. "That's at least two hours from here. We'll need to hitch a cab at least. Does anyone have some leftover money that we can use?" I asked to the ground. Thalia nodded and began getting change out of her pocket. She handed it over to me and there seemed to be enough money for a cab ride to Pennsylvania plus a night's stay in a five star hotel. At some point, I wondered why Thalia carried so much money in her pockets but the thought easily slipped my mind. "Then let's go to Pennsylvania. We need to hurry. We don't have much time left," I said and everyone nodded.

Soon enough, we were on our way to Pennsylvania, or better yet, the streets to get a cab to _go_ to Pennsylvania. To find our way across the forest and found an intersection. In the beginning, we believed that there weren't going to be cars coming our way but suddenly, there were a few trucks and—to our luck—an empty cab.

Surprisingly, we were all suspicious at first but when the cab driver drove us directly to Pennsylvania, we paid him and didn't question what had just happened.

We went up to an information desk and asked for a few quick pieces of information about the movie _The street with no name_ and we were told where to find this place and given a map of the area with the area circled on the map. I thanked her and the four of us began to run to our destination. The one thought that ran through my mind as we ran was Annabeth. She was fighting for her life right now. And it was all Luke's fault. If he hadn't used Annabeth in such a manner, then she wouldn't be fighting for her life and she'd be healthy and happy by my side right now. A small frown appeared on my face as we ran to our destination.

When arriving, there was no one around. Even though it was the brink of morning, there should have been _some_ people here…

"Doesn't this seem a little… I don't know, suspicious?" Grover asked as he shakily walked towards an empty alley. In my opinion, walking towards an empty alley was never a good sign.

"It's creepy, not suspicious goat dude," Clarisse pointed out, looking around the street. On the walls of the buildings, there were many signs of graffiti, a few stains of blood on the floor and many garbage bags surrounding the walls. The dark alley resonated darkness, only a few specs of light made it possible to see the dark and filthy street. "So what's next Jackson?"

"I… don't know. I mean, we got to the Street with no name so now, I don't know. I suppose there's supposed to be some sort of clue here?" I said, taking a few steps towards the walls, hoping to find a certain writing in Greek that might help us or a certain sign. But unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any. "This is so frustrating…" I said, turning my hands into fists and deliberating the thought of punching the wall in front of me, but that would do more damage to my hand than it would to the wall itself.

Suddenly, Thalia's voice pulled me around curiously. "Percy, look." Thalia pointed towards the empty dark alley and we all looked in the pointed direction.

There seemed to be a small line of green fire burning its way towards the end of the alley. It was Greek Fire. But… how? Who could have made this? Was it a sign? Looking over at Thalia, she seemed hesitant at first but she nodded, indicating that we should follow the trail of flame.

Since there was no one around, Thalia, Clarisse and I all took out our weapons and began slowly walking towards the trail. Darkness crept closer to us as Thalia and I walked forward first. Grover walked shakily in between Clarisse—who stood behind all of us, looking back from time to time to see if any intruders or monsters came after us from behind—and Thalia and I in the front.

"Be careful everyone, we don't know what's lurking around these parts," Thalia said, her voice levelled and un-quavering. We walked forward and deep laugh seemed to resonate across the alley. I gripped Riptide even tighter in my hand and walked forward alone. Thalia and the others stood beside me, ready for anything as the voice seemed to come closer towards us. Gripping my weapon tighter in my hand, I awaited for the monster to attack.

"Took you guys long enough to get here."

**Alright so what did you guys think? Let me know in REVIEWS PLEASE!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

7


	14. An angry daddy gives us another clue

**Alright so here's a short chapter but it's better than nothing. Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!**

Chapter 13

An angry daddy gives us another clue

**Percy's Point of View**

"I mean, I've been sitting here for the past hour waiting for you chumps to get here and you keep me waiting? Not the best way to mess with the God of War," Ares's voice said through the darkness. Adjusting my eyes to the dark alley, I can see Ares's form sitting on his menacing Harley-Davidson motorbike. He had sunglasses on even if he sat in complete darkness. He wore a large leather jacket above a blood red shirt. A fiery bandana was placed on his hair, his sunglasses fitting menacingly with the bandana and the jacket.

A small growl, wherever that came from, erupted from my throat. "Ares, what are you doing here?" I asked bitterly, making him chuckle as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, hello to you too pipsqueak." Ares looked at Clarisse and it made me look as well.

Clarisse's head was bent, unable to see her eyes. But, even though her eyes were hidden, we could all see the fear in her eyes. Ares might be her father but he scared her half to death. She tried so hard to please him but whatever she did was never good enough for her. He always wanted more. If you ask me, he's simply selfish.

"Hello father," Clarisse said with slight fear in her voice.

Ares didn't even seem to hear her but simply nodded and looked back at me. "So Jackson, word upstairs is that you're trying to find a little trick to help your girlfriend."

Raising Riptide, I glared at him and so badly wanted to spit in is face. "You don't talk about Annabeth that way. And what's it to you?" I nearly growled but he simply laughed at me. My attempts to be angry seemed to amuse him greatly. Man did that guy make me angry!

"Cool your jets Jackson. I'm not here to fight you. Although I _really_ want to slice and dice your watery butt into pieces, that's not why I'm here," He responded, all tone of amusement out of his voice.

"Then what _are_ you here for?" Thalia asked angrily, Aegis out and ready. She hated Ares just as much as I did, although her hate for him was probably increased since she is supposed to hate all men—well, except for me and Grover and Chiron. "If you're just here wasting our time, then we're out of here." Thalia began to walk away when Ares spoke up, freezing everyone in place.

"I'm here to give you a clue on where to find your antidote."

Looking at Ares with wide eyes, Thalia turned around and stared, wide eyed, at the God in front of us. Was he serious? Could we actually believe him? And what would helping us do for him? What would he be getting out of all of this? Well, let's find out. "What do you get out of this?" I asked, suspicion filling my voice. Lowering Riptide, he looked me square in the eyes, feeling as if he was simply talking to me alone and no one else.

"The pleasure of seeing you fail and possibly killed. This is an impossible mission that you won't succeed. Everyone knows that you'll fail." Rolling his eyes, he looked back at me. "Alright so just a few Gods have faith in you but not many. Just your Daddy and about two or three other Gods but that's about it," Ares said, making my blood boil in anger. Talking with Ares at the moment was making us lose precious time in finding the antidote for Annabeth. She needed it soon. Already a day has passed and we only have six more days. We needed to move _now_.

"Then get on with it. We're losing daylight here," I answered back, snapping at him but not caring if he got mad.

"Don't rush me Jackson or you won't get my help at all. But since I have better things to do than stand here talking to you guys, I'll give you your next hint." He cleared his throat and said: "_Hollywood's your ticket to your doom._" What in the Gods' name did that mean? Hollywood is your ticket to your doom. Does this mean we have to go to Hollywood to find our next clue? It was our best bet at the moment. Ares swung his leg over the bicycle and roared it to life. Looking at me, he roared the bike one more time and said: "Good luck in saving your girl Jackson 'cause you're going to need it." And next thing we knew, he was rushing past us on his motorcycle, driving out of the alley in a flash and disappeared before he entered the street in a trail of fire.

Looking at him leave, Thalia and I exchanged looks. Clarisse hadn't said a word but followed her father's leaving form with fearful eyes. Grover had been shaking the whole time and now, he was munching on two metal cans at the same time. How nervous was he at the moment? Shouldn't we all be nervous? I mean, _Hollywood's your ticket to your doom._ The word 'doom' didn't sound too lovely right now. And beside, Hollywood is a very big city. Our next clue could be anything.

Looking at Clarisse, she was worrying me. Clarisse still wasn't speaking, only looking at the empty alley. "Are you alright Clarisse?" I asked softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. But of course, she shrugged it off and walked towards the opening in the alley that led to the street.

"Whatever Jackson. So our next stop is Hollywood. How do we get there? Do we have any money?" She asked, turning around slightly and trying to hide her fear. Her fear of her father. Of disappointing him in this quest. But that wasn't happening. She was going to succeed, along with the rest of us.

All four of us dug our hands in our pockets, trying to find some lose change and found nearly two hundred dollars when all of us put our money together. It was enough to get us to Hollywood by plane, but only for one ticket. But suddenly, we found a credit card lying on the ground where Ares stood in front of us. Picking it up, we ran over to the nearest bank and asked how much there was left on the card. The bank manager said there was more than five thousand dollars on the card. All of us were shocked. Since when did Ares help us? Or, better yet, when was Ares acting friendly?

Nevertheless, we took out two thousand dollars and hopped on a taxi to the nearest airplane.

_We're getting there Annabeth. Just hang in there. _

**So what did you think? Let me know in some reviews! And if there are any haters out there, please don't critic cause I'm on the verge of stopping it here and now. So please review!**

**Bellacullenswan17**

5


	15. Don't anger the deathspirits

**OK SO I'VE WRITTEN TWO CHAPTERS FOR EVERY STORY (EXCEPT THE LONG CHAPTERS SUCH AS THE PRINCE AND THE STREET RAT THAT WAS A LONG CHAPTER) SO ONCE I GET SOME REVIEWS, YOU'LL BE GETTING THE NEXT CHAPTER FOR THIS STORY.****Alright so here's the next chapter for you guys. I hope you like it. I know I've lost some reviewers because of the wait but whoever is still reading this and finds it good, please read and review.**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson.**

Chapter 14

Don't anger the death-spirits

**Thalia's Point of View**

We had been seated in that plane for what seemed to be an eternity. But finally, we had landed in Los Angeles, California and the Hollywood sign was staring us straight in the face. It was very hard to miss it, what with those giant letters upon the mountain. Looking at Percy, his face was stricken with seriousness… and sorrow. Annabeth now meant everything to him and if he lost her, it would be probably kill him as well. We couldn't let my best friend die. Looking back at the sign, we all stood there, wondering what to do.

"Do you think we have to go to the sign or in Hollywood itself?" Grover asked, chewing on a metal can in between talking. He was nervous. We all were. Annabeth's life depended on us succeeding. We couldn't fail.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be any reason to want to go in Hollywood itself. It would simply scare the actors and we'd probably get arrested for entering anyways. So, the sign is our best bet," Percy said, walking towards the street head on. Sighing, we all followed him, seeing no other indication that he could be wrong. Looking over at Clarisse, she still seemed a little shaken up from our encounter with Ares. Her father was quite intimidating, especially towards his children. Especially towards her.

"Thalia, do you think Ares could have given us some fake clue? I mean, Hollywood? Why would we need to be here?" Grover whispered, following closely to me. Maybe he was right. But then again, why would the Gods give us a clue just to lead us astray?

"No… I think it's real. I mean, why would Ares have taken some of his precious time to come and give us something that could lead to nothing? It just doesn't seem… smart. And usually, dare I say it, Ares is smart. He is, after all, the God of War. He knows all the tactics in the world," I responded, looking at Grover. He was shaking, the poor little guy. Probably with fear. What other reason would he have to eat metal cans and shake at the same time? "We're gonna save her, Grover. We have to."

"I know, and we will. It's just… this is insane. All this running around. We've already burned one day. Annabeth only has six left. What if we—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Grover!" Percy exclaimed, stopping and turning to face us. His anger boiled over. "We're gonna make it and I don't care if you guys want to quit now but I'm not! Annabeth's gonna be fine!"

We all looked at him and tried to stay strong but... our chances reigned at a mere fifty/fifty chance of succeeding. But we needed to stay positive. It would be possible to save Annabeth in time. This clue was only a point in the right direction and we would be able to get the antidote. Annabeth _would_ be fine in the end. She'd be with us, laughing and smiling and within Percy's arms.

Nodding, I placed my hand on Percy's shoulder and said: "Then let's go. We need to get back to walking to save time. Don't we guys?" Looking at Clarisse and Grover, they both nodded and I averted my gaze back to Percy.

His anger dismissed and he nodded slowly before we began walking towards the Hollywood sign.

We didn't know what to expect when arriving in front of the sign, nor where to look. _Hollywood's your ticket to your doom._ It didn't say much about where we needed to go and what we needed to see. But then again, all of these clues were very cryptic, telling u that we needed to use our brains and figure this out on our own. Which was what we had been doing since the beginning.

We stopped in front of the sign and looked up at the top of it. "Alright, so where do we start?" Grover asked, staring upward.

"Well, could there be a lever or something against a letter?" Clarisse suggested, looking from Percy to me. She could be right. But then again, it seemed too simple. Any human could easily pull the lever out of curiosity and something could have opened earlier.

"No, that's probably not it. I mean, anybody could have opened whatever needs to be opened. No, this probably needs to be more secretive than that," Percy said, nearly reading my mind. He took a few steps forward and looked around the first 'O' in the word.

"What exactly are you looking for Percy?" I asked, walking over to him. Looking at the sign, there seemed to be a lot of graffiti onto the bottom of each letter. But... what was Percy looking for?

"There's got to be some sign that'll lead us somewhere. Obviously, doom means Hell. And Hell is the Underworld right? Seems pretty obvious right? I can't think of anything else that it could mean. So, what if there was something that lead us to the Underworld... There's no other solution," Percy explained, looking and feeling around the letters.

"So you're saying that there's got to be some sort of secret passage or inscription that can help us?" I asked, looking back at the others. They seemed to be slightly confused but they were able to follow along later on. Looking back at Percy, he was still looking and fumbling around. "So you think the letters can show us something?"

Percy nodded and looked at all of us. "Alright, so our best bet is to try and look for a certain marking, inscription, bump in the letters, whatever. Just something that could help us." The others nodded and we began looking and touching the bottom of the letters, hoping to be able to get something. It took us a few minutes but Clarisse called us over and we followed her to the large letter 'H'.

"Check this out." At first, it was all written in Greek but the letters seemed to morph into our English language. "'_Woe to all depraved souls_'? What's that—"

Clarisse was interrupted when suddenly, black smoke began to form next to us, weaving itself together to form a black medieval door with skulls and broken pieces of bones against the door. Everything about that door vibrated evil and dark presences. But... it was our ticket to our doom.

The door to the Underworld.

Wind formed around us as the door swung itself very slowly open and we all looked at it in fright and awe. Nothing was more shocking than to witness the gates of Hell opening in front of someone, much less for a Demigod.

Looking back at the others, they were staring at the door then to me. "Should we go in?" Before anyone even gave an answer, Percy walked up to the gate and stepped through it, determined. He knew that the answer to saving Annabeth was behind that door and would do anything to help her. Sighing, I said: "Stubborn head of his..."

"You can say that again..." Clarisse said as she walked towards the door and stepped through.

Looking at Grover, he was shaking slightly. He hadn't had good experiences in the Underworld and didn't want to be stuck down there again. Placing a hand on his shoulder softly, he looked at me frightened.

"Don't worry. Nothing's gonna happen to you, Grover. We'll protect you," I said reassuringly and it seemed to work. He shook but walked over to the door and stepped through it.

Taking a deep breath, I was the last one to ender and the door shut slowly but creepily behind me. Well, it was official. We were on our way to the Underworld. When the door disappeared behind me, the lights opened to reveal a reception area with a man behind a golden desk. This was our real ticket to Hell. Looking at the receptionist, he seemed quite bored and played with two golden drachmas.

"Percy, how do we—"

"I've been here before. We need to talk to him and give him some drachmas to be able to take the ferry to the Underworld," Percy said, interrupting me completely. But his voice showed determination and seriousness. He didn't want to waste any time looking for our way to the Underworld because we didn't have the time. Annabeth's life was on the line. Percy walked over to the receptionist and placed both hands hard on the desk, forcing the receptionist to look at us. The man was about to respond when Percy cut him off. "We need to get to the Underworld _now_."

"Well, don't you've got an attitude. Well, you're not getting anywhere without—"

"We have the money." Percy placed six drachmas on the counter, obviously not caring about the price and the receptionist's eyes widened at the coins. "Now get us to the Underworld."

"As you say, M. Jackson," The receptionist said and walked away from the counter. One of the four walls disintegrated and a black river formed in front of us. This wasn't the River Styx. The River Styx was farther down into the Underworld. This must be some distant river that made as a beautiful decoration. A dark wooden boat came out of the water slowly and there was no water inside. How strange... "All aboard," The receptionist said once he boarded the small boat.

We all looked at one another but it was Percy who, once again, walked ahead of us and embarked the boat without a word. Percy was acting strange... But we all knew the reason why and it scared us. I knew he was determined but... Well, there were no buts. Percy was scared. Scared that he wouldn't be able to save her in time. Scared that anything could go wrong and that we wouldn't arrive in time. Scared of many things. But all revolving around one thing: Annabeth. She was the one thing that mattered most to him right now. She was his everything. At least that's what we could gather.

But we all cared about Annabeth. And she was our main priority as well. So, we all got on the boat and the receptionist began rowing, guiding us towards the shore to the gates of the Underworld.

No one said a word as we rode towards the shore. Everyone was fidgeting. We'd figured out this clue but what about the next one? Would we even _get_ a next one? And if we did, would it lead us any further down? This was starting to become difficult... Luckily, we'd only encountered a few hellhounds. Maybe we were lucky?

Doubt it.

Chiron said so himself that this quest was going to be difficult and that not all of us might make it out alive. Hopefully, we'd all make it to camp safely... along with Annabeth.

It took us a while but we finally arrived to shore. The receptionist parked the both momentarily against the shore and we got off soon afterwards, nodding to the man before he sailed off towards what I guess was the reception area without another word. Just a simple bow and he was off. Looking over at Percy, his serious expression stared straight ahead, not wavering in the slightest. I couldn't even begin to imagine what he must be feeling.

Just as I was about to say something, a screech was heard around us and all four of us crouched, ready for an attack. Here came our bad luck... Getting Aegis out, Percy uncapped Riptide and Clarisse took out her sword, leaving Grover with a small athame. What was that screech?

Whatever it was, it wasn't friendly. "Get ready guys!" Percy screamed, looking around to find the source of the horrible sound. But nothing came at us for quite some time. Until just now. Five black figures descended from the sky, swooping down towards us.

Oh no...

"Keres! Watch out!" I screamed, trying to slash at them. But how could you slash at something that was merely a ghost? The Keres approached us and they were angry. Obviously this would be a challenge that we might not be able to face.

But we had to. For Annabeth's sake.

That brought courage to all of us, knowing that we had a goal in mind. And so we began fighting the Keres. But they were very hard to slay. Any strike you tries to use would end up making them angrier. Percy began using the river as a weapon and when spraying them with water, it seemed to affect them. Maybe the water in the Underworld was some sort of poison against these types of creatures.

But one seemed to have escaped the water squirting. Striking the Keres in front of me down with the electricity running from Aegis, I saw what was happening in front of us. Three of them were attacking Clarisse, Percy and Grover but a fifth was coming at Percy's back, its claws ready and out in the open. No... Percy wasn't even paying attention to the Keres. One slash from that monster and Percy would be poisoned... He would be able to save Annabeth.

So my path was set.

"PERCY!"

**Chiron's Point of View**

Annabeth's condition was getting worse.

Her skin became even paler than the first day and sweat poured from her complexion. Every hour, she would look in pain, whimpering very low but still loud enough to hear. Whenever she broke out into a fever or even had sweat form against her brow, I would wipe away that sweat as softly as I could, saying soothing words to her and trying to make it comfortable for her.

It had nearly been three days and Annabeth's immune system was getting worse. There was only four days left until she would pass and it showed. Taking her hand, I stroked it softly with my thumb and whipped at the sweat building on her forehead once more. Others had brought some water and I grabbed the glass, lifting her head ever so slightly up by her nape and placed the tip of the glass against her lips. Tilting it slightly, she drank it with obvious pain to her stomach.

Annabeth had to make it out alright... She just had to.

Suddenly, something changed. Her eyebrows scrunched together and I set the glass aside onto the table before lowering her back down onto the mattress.

"Annabeth... you're alright. Everything's going to be alright. I promise you that," I assured her, whipping the sweat once more.

"Percy..." She whispered ever so softly, pain filling her only word.

"Percy will save you Annabeth. He will come back soon."

"No... Percy..." She mumbled and pain filled her features.

What was she trying to say? Did she feel that something wasn't right? What was happening with Percy and the others...?

**Alright so what did you think? Good? Bad? ****I know I deviated from how the Underworld is represented in the book but I didn't have any internet or any references during my cruise so I had to go with my imagination and frankly, I like how I represented it in this chapter. So sue me if it's wrong but hey, I like it this way. Let me know what you think of this in some reviews please.**

**Bellacullenswan17**

10


	16. Another life on the line

**Alright so this chapter is shorter than the last so I'll tell you this: I'll give you guys a longer chapter very soon. After I get some reviews for this chapter (hopefully in the double digits but then again, I lost a lot of readers because of the time thing but hey, I'm trying to make amends. So please read and review this short chapter.**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson.**

Chapter 15

Another life on the line

**Percy's Point of View**

My eyes widened at the scene in front of me. Thalia's voice rang through the Underworld as I battled the Keres in front of me, killing it in a matter of instants. But what I hadn't expected was Thalia's form rushing at my back, pushing me out of the way.

What happened next shocked me. A Keres reached out of nowhere and slashed Thalia's back deeply, making her scream in pain before swinging her electrified weapon at the creature, vaporising it with a single touch. Obviously Keres didn't like water or thunder. As the others finished slaying their opponents, I never averted my gaze from Thalia.

She was shaking deeply, her face turned away from me. But her horrible wound was bleeding badly. And it was deep too. In a moment, Thalia fell to her knees, her shaking getting worse and I scrambled to my feet as she began to fall sideways. "Thalia!" I screamed, catching her before she fell to the ground. She whimpered loudly when her side fell in my arms, my arms wounding around her to keep her secure. Thalia panted as the pain began to worse for her. "Thalia? Come on, say something. Can you hear me? Thalia?" I asked, looking down at her as the others came running.

Thalia whimpered and shook in my arms. The others circled us and Clarisse looked at the wound, frowning. "This is seriously deep. Nearly touching the spine. She got lucky... in a way," Clarisse said, starting to dig through her bag to find any bandages.

Grover looked from Thalia to me and asked: "What in the Gods names happened?"

"I was about to kill the Keres when Thalia screamed my name and the next thing I know, I kill my Keres but another one scratches Thalia instead of me... She took the fall for me when I should have taken that wound..." I explained, looking at the wound. It looked horrid. How could she still be alive at the moment? That wound looked like it should kill her... Maybe it is. Thalia began sweating horribly and her eyes were closed, looking like she was unconscious.

"We have to give her ambrosia or nectar or something. She'll get better that way."

"Percy..." Thalia began saying extremely weakly. It didn't sound like her at all. Was I losing everyone I loved around me? This can't be happening.

"Save your strength Thalia. You'll be just fine. Guys, come on! She's getting worse!" Everyone looked at me with a frown. Why weren't they helping her? Did Thalia's life mean nothing to them?

"Percy, that won't work," Grover explained sadly, looking me straight in the eyes.

"And why not?"

"When a Keres wounds someone, their claws act as poisonous daggers. It's a fatal wound... Only someone with healing powers can heal that wound. Nothing else," Clarisse explained, looking down at the claw marks on Thalia's back. My eyes widened. No... This can't be happening. Not to Thalia too. I can't lose the girl I love and her best friend. "I'm sorry..."

"There has to be something we can do! We can't lose anyone else too. We have to find a way to get her to someone. Apollo or to Chiron or... _someone_!"

"W... we... don't... h... have... the time... Percy..." Thalia whispered, pain evident in her voice. She was hurting. And we needed her. Alive and well.

"We'll make the time."

"We... can't afford... that... Annabeth... can't... afford that..."

"Annabeth will be alright. She'll be safe and healed in no time. You will too. I won't lose anyone else I care about." Looking over at Grover, his gaze didn't waver. "Grover, I need you to put Thalia on your back and carry her. No offense but since you only have an athame with you, it'll be easier for you to protect her. Can you do that?"

"Sure man," Grover said without hesitation or hurt in his voice.

Looking down at Thalia, her eyes were scrunched in pain and she had ground her teeth together, her eyes shut tight against the pain. "Thalia, I need to move you alright? I know it hurts and I know that it'll hurt even more when we move you but we need to."

"Just... leave... me... Go save... Annabeth..." She whispered in pain. How could she even think that we'd leave her behind?

"No. Never gonna happen. We'll save you _and_ Annabeth. No one's gonna be left behind. Not even you. Now, we're gonna move you as gently as possible alright? Just hang in there. We'll help you..." I said softly before looking at Clarisse and Grover and they both nodded. Easing Thalia softly up, she cried out in pain and whimpered, becoming a soft whisper when Clarisse helped me ease her onto Grover's back. But in the minute that we placed her onto Grover's back, Thalia fell limp in our grip. "Thalia?" I asked in a panic.

Clarisse placed two fingers against Thalia's neck and looked at me. "She just fell unconscious. She's still alright, don't worry Jackson," Clarisse said, her attitude kicking in once again.

Running my fingers through my hair, I looked at all of them. Clarisse looked at me before beginning to bandage Thalia's back as best as possible. "Sorry guys... I'm just—"

"We know Perc. Don't worry. We get it," Grover said softly, supporting Thalia as Clarisse worked as best as she could. "We know it's hard to watch the girl you love and your friend suffer like that. We've all had to go through it, just not all at the same time like this."

Sighing, I said: "Thanks Grover..."

"No problem dude. Don't worry, we'll save both. You know we will," Grover said before Clarisse hit him softly once on the shoulder to tell him she was done and he straightened up, placing Thalia on his back correctly. But she didn't whimper or anything. Thalia might be unconscious but shouldn't she at least give us a sign that she was still alright? "She's alright man. I can still feel her chest rising on my back and her breath on my neck."

"Alright... just let us know if any changes occur alright?" Grover nodded and I sighed once more, feeling stressed beyond belief. At this point, we all hopes that nothing else would go wrong with this quest. But then again, that wasn't likely. Something would _always_ go wrong. It was just the destiny of all Demigods. Nothing would ever change that. But now, we needed to get a move on. "Let's get going. We need to get to someone who can help Thalia quickly. Who knows how long she has..."

And with that, we set off towards our next goal: Hades.

**Alright so what did you think? I know some of you probably thought that it would be Percy who would get hurt but it was Thalia instead. Caught you guys a little off guard... maybe not. Oh well, let me know what you guys thought in some reviews please.**

**Bellacullenswan17**

5


	17. Hell wants a word with me

**So here's the next chapter. I hope you guys like it. Please read and review.**** AND THIS STORY TAKES PLACE BEFORE THE TITAN'S CURSE! NOT AFTER THE DEMIGOD FILES!**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson.**

Chapter 16

Hell wants a word with me

**Percy's Point of View**

We passed through the Underworld and went through the Judgement Hall but finally arrived in front of a large castle. Hades's lair. Flames swirled around pillars and the door was designed exactly like the gate we stepped into from Hollywood. Skulls decorated the two doors, its black door contrasting with the white pieces of broken bones and skulls. Black smoke seemed to escape from the depths of the door, resonating evil and sins. It represented Hades, the God of the Underworld.

Looking at the others, Clarisse's face was unreadable, which meant that she was trying to be brave, as usual. As for Grover, his legs were shaking in fear. And Thalia didn't react to the shaking. She was getting worse as we went along. Her eyes hadn't opened and her form stayed motionless against Grover's back. Her arms were limp against his chest and her head was laying sideways on Grover's shoulder, Thalia's hair sprawled in front of her face. But sweat kept pouring down her face and her breathing had become laboured. There was no telling how long Thalia had left and it was driving me mad. I needed to make sure that she was alright. I needed to know that she would make it out alive.

My mind also revolved around Annabeth. We were gone nearly four days now, according to my watch. Well, technically we'd been gone three and a half days but it was still close to four, which meant that we were running out of time. Maybe. Depending how our meeting with Hades would go. But we couldn't get our hopes up, especially with the God of the Dead.

"Is this it?" Clarisse asked, keeping her voice levelled and looking at me. Her eyes told me everything. She _was_ afraid, less than with her father but she was still afraid.

"I... I think so. I mean, our clue only said that Hollywood would be our ticket to our doom but it didn't tell us anything else about where to go. Maybe we need to ask Hades for some help?"

"You sure he'll give it to you Jackson?"

"You got any better ideas Clarisse?"

Clarisse made a stern face and looked back at the doors. "Not at the moment..." She simply replied, making me look back at the door.

"Then our best bet is to make a visit to the God of the Dead," I said, taking a step forward.

By taking that step forward, the doors screeched and began slowly opening on their own, as if they knew that someone wanted in. They opened an inch at a time, taking their much needed time to open fully. But when they did, we peeked inside and saw a barely lit hallway, only illuminated by small torches every five meters from one another.

"Ok, that's creepy," Grover said, shakily walking towards the opened doors with us by his side.

We walked in and slowly made our way to the end of the hall, looking around nervously and seeing only dim darkness. Grover kept a strong hold of Thalia as we walked while Clarisse and I had our weapons in hand, ready to attack anything that would threaten us. "Get ready guys... anything can come at us," I said, arriving at the end of the hall and looking around. Everything seemed normal... until now.

Out of nowhere, many hellhounds roared and entered the room, running at us angrily. They slowed their run and began stalking us dangerously, growling and snapping every once in a while. But then came the real danger. A large black dog with three heads walked in the large ballroom entrance and howled and roared, making the room shake and echo loudly. "WOAH!" Grover and I screamed in unison, looking up at Cerberus.

When Grover looked up, Thalia's head fell backwards, her bound hands moving up to Grover's neck and her back arched. But in that one movement, Thalia's skin seemed to get paler enormously. All this movement was making it worse for her. Clarisse helped Thalia fall back against Grover's back and kept a hand on Thalia's shoulder to steady her.

Riptide in hand, we prepared ourselves for any attack that the dogs would attempt but something stopped them. A loud and Greek command from a woman. It made the hellhounds whimper and take a few steps back while Cerberus bowed his head and stopped growling all together. What had made them stopped? And who had screamed like that? Looking around, the dogs began walking away from us and disappeared into the darkness that was the hallway. Cerberus stayed where he was but sat down, looking at the ground. We still had our weapons on hand and were prepared for who ever was coming our way.

What we didn't expect to find was a woman walking over to us, young with pale skin and lustrous black hair. She wore a white dress, and looked slightly beautiful, even if we were in the summer. Her eyes were multicoloured and washed out, almost as if the Underworld sucked the life out of them. But when seeing us, her eyes turned a warm chocolate brown, as if she was happy to see us here. This woman must not have a lot of visitors. But we couldn't call her a woman. No, she was a goddess.

Persephone, Goddess of springtime, flowers and young life. Hades's wife.

Who knew that she would be coming to our rescue.

She looked at Cerberus and said a few words in Greek, which made the three-headed dog whimper slightly at the command and walk away into the darkness. Persephone looked back over to us and looked confused.

"Now, what are you all doing down in the Underworld alive? Seems like a reoccurrence with you, Percy Jackson," Persephone said, walking over to me.

"We don't have time for pleasantries. My friend and girlfriend are in danger, one's been injured by your Keres and the other needs a cure, which we were told to go to the Underworld. So we need to talk to Hades," I said, getting right to the point.

Persephone eyed me curiously and nodded shortly after. "Good thing. He would like a word with you as well. Come with me," Persephone said, looking at Thalia's weak body and then back to me before walking away.

I looked at the others and they were as lost as I was. Could Persephone be telling us the truth? That Hades wanted a talk with me or was this a trap? Wouldn't be surprising. Hades_ has_ tricked us in the past. Wouldn't be a surprise if he tricked us once more. But it was a risk we had to take. Thalia didn't have very long, especially with the attack that made her look even paler than before. She needed to be healed very soon. And that would mean that maybe Hades would be able to help both of us. We'd just have to see... Shrugging, we all followed Persephone, walked through the lit ballroom and entering another dim lit hallway until we arrived inside a throne room. Hades's throne room.

Persephone walked over to a throne, its back facing us, and placed her hand on its side, peering her head down. "We have company," She said, then looked back at us, taking a step to the side.

Suddenly, a man with intense black eyes, shoulder-length jet-black hair and albino white skin turned around to face us. He wore silk black robes and looked threatening. It looked like his robe was made of… evil souls… How gross! Hades, lord of the Underworld and Greek God of the Dead. How charming... not. It might sound horrible but he reminded me a little bit of the pictures I'd seen of Napoleon Bonaparte and a little bit of Hitler… Great.

"Nephew," He said, looking at me. His eyes diverted to Thalia, who hung limply on Grover's back, and his grin seemed to grow. "And niece. How kind of you all to visit me."

"Cut the act Hades. We're here for a reason, not just to come and visit your dark lair," I answered coldly, looking him straight in the eyes. I was tired of all of these riddles and games the Gods were trying to pull on us. No one had the time for this and Hades always made me lose my temper. "We're here on business."

"And I see that you have a small problem on your hands," Hades retorted, pointing to Thalia on Grover's back. "In my opinion, my niece doesn't look too well. " Looking back at Thalia, she looked even worse… if that were possible. Her skin was even paler and, even though her face was bent and her drenched sweaty hair hid her visage, I could tell that she wasn't going to last any longer. Looking back at Hades, my expression turned to anger. But unfortunately, Hades was getting a kick out of this. "If you ask me, she won't last more than another hour."

"Then that's why we're here. We need help. And our last clue told us that—"

"Your ticket was to the Underworld. Yes, every god knows about your little quest to save the one you desperately love. And, let me guess, you believe I have your next clue."

"Well, don't you?" Grover asked, his voice shaky. Suddenly, Persephone smiled in a flirty matter at Grover, making him tense and shocked. Was this goddess hitting on Grover, while she was married to Hades? Then again, she had been forced to marry the guy.

"I might, or I might not. But—"

"Hades, cut it out!" I exclaimed, my anger raising even further. Hades looked at me shocked and impatient as my anger rose. "We are running out of time and we certainly don't need this from you! Now, we need to get the antidote and we need to have Thalia healed so I'd appreciate it if you _stopped_ wasting our time and tell us what we need to hear!"

Hades chuckled slightly at my outburst and seemed to enjoy this turn of events. Now he was really ticking me off. How could he just be wasting my time like this? Annabeth was on the verge of death and Thalia was dying and this guy had the _nerve_ to waste my important time!

When Hades stopped chuckling, he looked at me and said: "Fine Nephew, you win."

My mouth literally dropped. "Come again?"

"I have been told that I need to be civil with you when, and if, you would arrive here. And now that you have, you have earned the right to get your next and final clue," Hades said, making my hopes rise unbelievably. Annabeth would be alright… They would both be alright. Thank god! "But that will only save one friend, not both. Your quest is only supposed to save one person, not two." My expression fell instantaneously.

"So wait a second, are you telling me that you're just going to let Thalia die? You can't even heal her and help me out this one time?" I exclaimed, taking a step towards him but was held back by Clarisse.

"I'm not a charity, boy. You came here for a purpose and that was to find an antidote for one person, not a healing for another. Now, if you—" Hades had begun but was interrupted by his wife approaching him slowly.

"Hades, maybe we can reward young Percy Jackson." Hades looked at Persephone and became quite confused. And frankly, so was I. Why was she helping me, after her husband wouldn't? "If he happens to surpass the last challenge, maybe we can heal his little friend, as a reward?"

Hades looked at me and sighed heavily after a few moments. "I suppose. Honestly, I don't believe he'll pass the challenge but he can always try," Hades said, motioning for Grover to move towards him. "We'll keep the girl here and help her wound until we see if you success in your final task, which will be a shock if you do." Grover placed Thalia on a makeshift bed and Persephone sat beside her, starting to clean the wound. She smiled slightly at me and focused all of her attention on a barely alive Thalia.

At least she would be alright…

"Alright, so what's the clue? I'll do it immediately," I said, hope filling me. This would be the toughest challenge but it had to be done. For Annabeth and for Thalia. They both needed to survive. Hades smiled at me and seemed to enjoy my boldness.

"I see hope has surged into you. Well, it won't stay long because here is your final clue: _Your answer lies at the bottom of the forgetting waters_."

And immediately, my eyes widened. There wasn't another river that could make a person completely forget who they were and what they were. And the cure would be at the bottom… No…

The cure was at the bottom of the River Lethe.

**So what did you think? Good? Bad? Good but could be better? Let me know in some reviews.**** AND PLEASE, I GET THE FACT THAT I MAKE MISTAKES BUT PLEASE NO BAD REVIEWS! **

**Bellacullenswan17**

9


	18. A dip in the river of forgetfulness

**Ok so here's a chapter. After my trip to Greece, I feel more in the mood to write these chapters so I will give you guys this one and you can tell me how it was. So, without further ado, PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!**

**BTW CHAPTER 17 IS NOW THE AUTHOR'S NOTE! The author's note is no longer there.**

**Disclaimer = I don't own Percy Jackson!**

Chapter 17

A dip in the river of forgetfulness

**Percy's Point of View**

Was he serious? How could our last challenge be to get the cure at the bottom of the River Lethe? This couldn't be happening... It was impossible to get down there, not without forgetting who you were.

"That can't be right! One touch of the river and you'll forget everything! It wipes away your memory permanently! How can anyone expect us to get down there?!" Grover exclaimed, hands beginning to shake. Soon, I bet you he was going to start eating tin cans out of anxiety and anger.

"This is just crazy. There's no way of getting that cure now. The Gods set this up on purpose. They _wanted_ us to mess this up!" Clarisse grumbled, starting to pace.

Hades simply smirked at us a little, knowing that we were done for. As for me, things appeared to move in slow motion. Our last chance to help cure Annabeth was at the bottom of the River Lethe. If we did this, then no one would remember who they were. How could we all go and do this? It had to be only one of us. At least two of us would have to bring back the cure to Annabeth. Thalia was in no shape to move and if we didn't accomplish this quest, then she would die, just like the girl that I love. How could this get any worse?

Looking over to Thalia's bed, Persephone was still tending to the wound, keeping Thalia barely alive but cleaned. But suddenly, as my eyes drifted over to Thalia's form, her image changed. It wasn't Thalia in the bed but Annabeth. She looked worse than ever and her head didn't even turn towards me this time. Annabeth probably didn't have the strength anymore to do so. She panted heavily and her chest rose in small gasps but it seemed as though her body became even more frail than before. She was dying quickly. Out of nowhere, Thalia's image came back and the wounds on her back just made me snap out of my shock and look at Hades.

He was smirking, knowing that we wouldn't be able to win. It was almost as if he had planned this entire thing. Hades looked at my friends' expressions and knew that they looked defeated. But this couldn't be the end. Two lives depended on us and we couldn't fail. It just wasn't a possibility. But how...?

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head. No, not a thought but a memory. Last year, just before I'd left camp to go back to school, I was walking along the grass when some Ares campers had come up to me and pushed me out of their way, throwing me in the water. Luckily, my bags had fallen out of my hand and landed drily on the ground and safe from the water. But when falling into the freezing water, it felt as though I was breathing normally. It didn't feel as though I was underwater, more like on my feet and breathing in air. Looking up and swimming to the shore, I exited the water and found that my clothes were completely dry. I'd also remembered the bubble of air that I had made around Annabeth and I when we were escaping from the sirens. Of course it hadn't been the most efficient way to get out of that situation but my dad had helped me through it.

All of this could help me get to the antidote without losing my memory. I was the only one who could get down there.

Before I could volunteer myself for the task, Grover sighed and looked at Hades. "Fine, I'll go," was his only reply. It sounded melancholic and defeated.

"If you go in there pea brain, you won't remember what you're doing and you won't be able to get the antidote. None of us can get down there without losing our memory. It's not—"

"I'll go," I replied before she could finish that sentence. Hades turned his attention to me and seemed a little perplexed for some reason. Was he starting to catch onto what I could do to get the antidote out?

Grover and Clarisse looked at me shell-shocked and Clarisse was the first one to speak, not too nicely I might add. "You really do have seaweed for a brain! Annabeth's counting on _you_ to come back and help her. If you lose your memory, then this is all for nothing!" A spark of anger formed in me as she mentioned the seaweed part. It made me remember all the times that Annabeth would call me Seaweed Brain and it simply made my heart curl inside of itself even more. Grabbing her collar, I dragged her to the side, away from Hades' earshot, and looked her dangerously in the eyes. She was fuming now. Her fist was raised and, as Grover joined us, Clarisse began clenching it even more. "You better have a good reason for doing that Jackson or otherwise, your face won't—"

"Just shut up for once and listen Clarisse!" I exclaimed at her, anger pooling into my words, which seemed to shock her a little at this point. She must have seen the look in my eyes because she grumbled and lowered her fist, simply looking at me. For once, Clarisse La Rue actually listened to me... Someone write that on the calendar. "I have a plan."

"And what might that be? Getting your memory sucked the minute you touch the River Lethe? Nice plan, Jackson," she mocked, crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at me.

"Let's hear him out, Clarisse. Maybe he has a good plan," Grover said, looking me over with worry. So they both didn't know yet.

"Look, being the son of Poseidon does have its good sides sometimes. So far, when I jump in water, I can easily breathe. And when I come out, my clothes are all dry. It's as if there's like a barrier thing around me that prevents me from getting wet. I think it's my dad helping me through this. If I can send out some sort of plea for him to help, even in the Underworld—" I didn't have to finish my sentence because both my friends had finally clued in.

"You'll stay dry and the river won't affect you," Grover chimed in, his worry diminishing by the second as he finally understood the plan.

Clarisse also understood and she placed a fist under her chin, thinking. "But you said that so far, you don't get wet. Are you sure that you won't get wet this time? How many times have you tried it? And what if your dad can't help you?" Clarisse said, some sort of worry filling her words. Did she actually care about what happened to me? Now wasn't the time to ask that. We needed to act quickly if we were to try and succeed on this quest.

"There's nothing else that we can do. It's this or we let Annabeth _and_ Thalia die. I don't know about you guys but I'm not letting that happened," I replied, looking from one to the other and saw them nod slowly but grimly. It was true that the Underworld did reduce other gods' ability to help their demigod children but we didn't have any other choice. It was this or giving up and I wasn't inclined on doing the latter.

Rejoining our stance before Hades, he smirked and looked at all of us, still smirking. "So, have you all decided who will venture to the River Lethe?" he asked, crossing his arms across his robe, making some souls snarl at the movement and move around him. That was honestly disturbing.

Nodding, I stepped forward and looked him straight in the eyes, hoping to only show strength. "How do I get there?" was my short reply, still staring him down.

Hades laughed a monstrous laugh and looked down at me, still smirking widely. "You're brave but foolish, nephew. Even though you know that you will fail, you still try. Quite foolish indeed."

"Just tell me how to get there Hades! I'm sick and tired of your lame attempts at buying time. Just get me there and let's get this over with," I replied darkly, clenching my fists in anger. He was trying to push us even further away from our goal by making us lose all this time. It made my blood boil.

Hades laughed and snapped his fingers. Behind him, a tall vortex appeared, grounded to the ground and large enough for me to step through. "The vortex will get you there in a second. Although, it honestly shouldn't matter. You won't succeed in this pathetic attempt to try and save your friends. So Percy Jackson, you can venture off into the vortex. But you know what will happen once you get out of the water. You won't remember anything. So you might as well replenish in the memories while you can," Hades said before he walked to one of the seats and looked at me, his smirk still on that ugly face of his. It was so tempting to want to rip it off of him but I held back, knowing it would do me no good.

With one last look at Thalia, Persephone and my friends, I ventured into the vortex and prayed that this would work.

When walking through, it felt as though the particles of my body had been separated and regrouped in front of the River Lethe. The experience was horrible and it wasn't something that I was willing to do again but it was the only way connecting me to Hades' chambers. Looking back behind me, the vortex was still there, swirling its sinisterly dark liquid in the shape of a door. But looking down at the River Lethe, I could see a small test tube vial filled with a white liquid, surrounded by a small bubble of air. It was the cure, lying at the bottom of the river. My only ticket to save Annabeth and Thalia.

Closing my eyes, I tried to make my breathing feel even. Imagining Annabeth's smiling face, laughing around the campfire with Thalia and Grover, made me feel slightly more relaxed as I kept that thought in mind. If this didn't work, I wanted to remember my friends one last time.

And then I sent a silent prayer up to Poseidon for help, hoping that he would receive it.

_Ok Poseidon if you're listening, I can't let my friends die. I know you don't have much power down here but please... _Please_ let me get to the antidote with my memories intact. Let me be able to stay dry under the water. I have to do this, for Annabeth and my friends. Please dad... Please just help me this once and I won't bother you for a while. I promise. Just help me save the girl that I love._

Without another thought, I dived in the water, my eyes completely shut.

I didn't know what was to be expected but it simply made my heart leap to open my eyes and remember who I was. Opening my eyes, I realized that my body was in the River Lethe and my memory was intact. Looking down at the antidote, it was still at the bottom of the river, encased in the air bubble that kept it grounded to the floor of the river. Swimming towards it, my hand reached out and entered the air bubble, gripping the antidote and pulling it out. Inspecting it, the bottle looked intact with its white liquid swirling around the container.

This was it, what we'd been searching for four days. A small smile formed on my face as I began swimming to the surface. Suddenly, a thought erupted in my mind, making me stop in the middle of the river. Hades thought that I lost my memory when jumping in the river. He probably was grinning like a madman right now, thinking that I'd failed. But the potion was in my hand. Maybe… maybe I could play along for a little while, try to make him think that he won. It would be entertaining, both for me and for the rest of my friends.

With a slight smile, I tried to make my best 'lost' face and dropped the smile off of my face, replacing it with a confused look. Walking up to the vortex, I stepped through and looked down at the antidote in my hand, trying to make it look like I didn't know what was in my hand.

"Perc, you made it!" Grover said, looking at me with a large grin on his face but suddenly, it started disappearing as he saw the fake confused look on my face. He didn't see through the façade… "No… Percy?" He asked cautiously, taking a step towards me. Clarisse looked at me but crossed her arms, trying to decipher if I was actually lost or faking. "Percy?"

"What…?" I asked, trying to make my voice as confusing as possible. Hades was still grinning so obviously it was believable.

"Oh no… No, no, NO! This can't be happening!" Grover said, freaking out as he started pacing and gripping his hair, reaching into his pack and grabbing a tin can, nearly eating it fully in one bite. He must be really nervous. "Percy _can't _have lost his memory! What about Annabeth? She'll be devastated when she finds out!" Clarisse finally caught onto the act and punched Grover in the arm. He yelped a little and glared at her. "What'd you do that for?!"

"Shut up nimrod!" she exclaimed, looking back at me as Hades began to laugh maniacally.

Looking over at him, he threw his head back and closed his eyes, laughing horribly. While he wasn't looking, Grover and Clarisse looked over at me and I flashed a wink and a smile, making Grover finally realize that I was faking it the entire time. Sure took him long enough… The guy should have more faith in me. In an instant, the smile vanished from my face as my attention was returned once again to Hades, who was now looking at me with a triumphant gaze.

"It was destined that you would fail this quest! And now you cannot remember who you are! This is a perfect moment! Now there is no way that you can go save your lover now, seeing as you don't even remember her! Isn't that right boy?" Hades gloated, smirking wider than ever.

Now was the time to spoil his fun and enlighten mine.

A large grin erupted on my face as I lifted the antidote up to my chest and gripped it tightly, never breaking the bottle but making sure that it was still in my grasp. A look of confusion spread over Hades' face and my grin erupted further. "I don't think so Hades." The Lord of the Underworld's eyes widened as he took in the situation at hand. He began to understand that I hadn't lost my memory, that it was still in tact. "You lose."

**Ok so how was it? Good? Bad? Please let me know in some REVIEWS!**

**Mortal-v.a-twicharmed20**


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